25 Days 'Til Christmas
by Prongs.xo
Summary: AshxMisty, MayxDrew, DawnxPaul. It’s December and our favorite girls are eagerly anticipating Christmas. But Drew’s being a prick, Ash is all the way in Sinnoh, and Paul’s being… Paul. How will it all work out? Advent: New chapt every 3rd day of month!
1. December 1st

_Hello everyone!_

_I'm feeling Christmas-y lately, are you? :)_

_At first this was going to be only a Contestship, but I decided I'd make it more interesting and throw in Pokeshipping and *cringe* Ikarishipping. See, I used to be totally against Dawn and Paul, but I'm warming up to it now. I wanted to see if I could write Ikarishipping successfully. So, if it sucks, I apologize. It'll be my first, so go easy on me, will ya? :) Nah. You can be harsh, if you feel it's necessary. I don't mind criticism, as long as it's constructive and nothing mean, you know?_

_So this story is basically like an advent calendar. But instead of getting chocolates, you get stories! I was originally going to have each day as a completely different story, but I found that would be too hard. So they all tie in together. Also, unlike an advent calendar, you won't get them everyday. It's too late and it'd be too hard to write 25 chapters in 25 days, would it not? So there will be a new chapter every 3 days (if all goes well). Sorry if that doesn't happen. You never know when I might get a huge test I'll need to cram for!_

_Anyways, on to the story!_

_Enjoy :)_

_**Disclaimer: I do not own anything to do with Pokemon. This honor belongs to Satoshi Tajiri.**_

* * * * *

**December 1****st**

May

* * * * *

_Could my day get any worse?_

May groaned into the pile of snow. She had just taken a wrong step over a sidewalk cub and found her self face down in the white fluffy stuff. _How was I supposed to know the curb was there?_ She thought furiously as she stood up and wiped the melting snow from her face. It's not like she wasn't paying attention to where she was walking. It was simply the fact that the snow was practically knee deep. The sidewalk was completely hidden from view, so she didn't know what was street and what was not.

_Lovely. That's the perfect word to describe me right now. I do a face plant into the snow, my hair is frizzier than it has ever been, and I would bet all of my Pokemon that my mascara is running down my face from the melted mascara, _the brunette thought furiously. She self consciously smoothed down her hair as a black car passed on the road beside her. _Why can't I just spread wings and fly to the Pokemon Center? It's probably another mile._ May ripped her way through the snow viciously, eager to get back to a warm, comfortable bed. All she wanted to do was curl up under some blankets and forget about the world for a few hours- maybe a few days, even.  
But unfortunately, there was no way she'd get to do that anytime soon. With the rate that this blizzard was going and the depth of the snow she had to walk through, it would surely be another couple of hours before she would finally be able to relax.

_Right now I really wish I had caught that Noctowl. Maybe I could be flying now…_ May sighed out loud and shook her head, trying to rid her head of the negative thoughts. There was no point in going over the 'what ifs'. There was nothing she could do about anything at the moment. All she could do was stay positive and focus at the task at hand: getting through the-

"No. Way." May muttered though gritted teeth.  
She could handle walking through this depth of snow, somehow. At least the road would be plowed once she got on the main streets. But in order for her to get there, she had to walk through a field.  
But there was one problem.  
This morning, the field had been covered with snow, like the rest of the town. But it was manageable. May knew that walking was way cheaper than taking a taxi to her contest, even if it meant crossing through a few snowy landscapes.  
But now, eight hours later, things were definitely different.

Piles upon piles sat along the once flat field. But these were no ordinary piles of snow; they were taller than three times May herself!  
May heard a noise and glanced over to the right side of the field. A snow plow came and dumped a massive amount of snow on the side. _Great_, she thought bitterly. Her short cut field had been turned into a snow deposit for the snow plows!

_There is no way in heck that I would be able to climb up and over those hills, _May observed miserably. _I'd sink right through!_  
Now May would have to go all the way around, which would probably cost her another sixty minutes. If she took that way, her toes were bound to fall off. They were so numb that she could hardly feel them! Plus, she was on the side of a run down, practically deserted road. Hardly any cars took that way, and May didn't see why they would with all of the snow they had that day. Plus, it was an unplowed road.

_Okay, calm down, calm down, don't panic. Just breathe. In and out, In and out…  
_But May couldn't take it. Everything was overwhelming her now. She was stuck in the middle of nowhere, practically snowbound, it felt like her toes were practically about to fall off, and she had just lost spectacularly and embarrassingly at the contest she was in only two hours ago. So she sat down on a dense pile of snow (what else was she to sit on?) and buried her head in her knees, wrapping her arms around them.

The scene at the contest played over and over in her head. They were spinning around in circle, dizzying her, overwhelming her. She couldn't stop the memories.

"_And next, we have contestant number eight, May from Petalburg City!"_

_Man ran out onto the stage, trying to look like she was confident; but she wasn't. Why would May, talented and famous coordinator, not be perfectly self assured? The reason was an equally, if not more famous green haired boy by the name of Drew.  
He had said he would come to watch this contest; he had promised that he would be there beforehand to wish May luck. May had been looking forward to this day so much. She hadn't seen him in weeks, and she was starting to miss his naggings and insults. Instead of bringing her down right before her contest, they made her more confident and determined to prove him wrong.  
So when he hadn't showed up, it was like a painful blow to her stomach._

"_Alright, let's do this!" May yelled, faking confidence. She knew that if she couldn't really feel it, she'd have to fake it. It was the next best thing._

"_Munchlax, Delcatty, take the stage!" _

_It was a double Pokemon contest, and May saw this as an amazing opportunity to show off her daring and confident coordinating style. It was supposed to be perfect; Munchlax's Metronome and Delcatty's Assist were sure to be a hit. They were prepared for no matter which types of moves were to transpire. May was extra confident in Delcatty's abilities. It had evolved recently and with that evolution came a new kind of strength and beauty. Delcatty was no longer the painfully cute, hyper Pokemon. It had grown into a poised, elegant powerhouse.  
May really had to give it to Max, who had found a Moon Stone and sent it to her for her Birthday. It was also his idea to debut Skitty's evolution at this contest.  
It was a genius plan._

_May smiled, feeling more confident. She closed her eyes, and took a deep breath. All was quiet and all was still; the crowd was marveling at the beauty that radiated from Delcatty and the power and confidence that Munchlax exuded. They were eagerly anticipating this performance._

_Slowly, May turned towards her Pokemon. Her eyes remained closed as she said quietly, "Munchlax, Metranome. Delcatty, Assist, please."_

_Gasps came from many members of the audience. May was well knows for using chance moves like these in her contests, and she usually always got lucky. But would it happen again? May had not a doubt in her mind._

_She smirked and slowly opened her eyes.  
A strange sight greeted May. Around the bottom of Delcatty's paws were a strange, glowing white light, exactly like the one that Munchlax had in between his arms. _What move is that? _May had thought. _Could another one of my Pokemon have learned a new move without me knowing it?

_Then, it hit May. Delcatty was using Metronome. She had taken it from Munchlax.  
_Well, this should be interesting_, May mused.  
Suddenly, Munchlax fell to the floor, writhing around. There was a little puddle of water below it and it was splashing it all around. Splish, splash… Splash…SPLASH! Munchlax was using Splash!  
May was horrified. Laughter had erupted from every single person sitting in the audience. Even the judges were laughing. _No, this has to be some sort of dream! Please, this cannot be happening! _May thought.  
She looked at Delcatty desperately. Its eyes were closed and it looked like it was concentrating. May had no idea what move it was using. She looked closer and realized it appeared as if Delcatty was storing energy.  
What could it be?_

_Suddenly, out of nowhere, Delcatty burst out into a run. Its body was coated in white power as it charged around the room. Suddenly, it directed itself straight towards Munchlax.  
That's when May realized what attack it was using.  
Giga Impact._

"_NO, DELCATTY!" May yelled frantically.  
But it was too late.  
Delcatty slammed into Munchlax, completely out o control. Munchlax went flying into the air, then slammed down onto the ground. It had fainted. Delcatty continued running around the room, completely unable to control this new power. It was going to crash into something or someone if May didn't do something quickly.  
There was nothing left now.  
May pulled out two pokeballs and yelled, "Return!"  
With two flashes of red light, the Pokemon were gone.  
"I'm… sorry…" May sniffed, and bolted for the doors and out of the contest._

_She had never felt more mortified in her _entire_ life._

May snapped back into reality. She couldn't stand to think over that contest for any longer.  
Suddenly, she heard the roar of an engine. She realized her eyes were wet from tears so she quickly wiped them off. _Oh, what difference will it make? _She thought miserably. _The snow's already soaked my face._

May looked up to see a yellow taxi pull up beside her. It stopped and a door opened in the back. May looked up in disbelief as she found herself staring into the face of Drew.

She opened her mouth to talk, but nothing came out.  
"Just get in," Drew commanded before opening the door for her. May crawled in gratefully and closed her eyes as she savored the warm air that enveloped her. Drew shut her door and walked around to the other side to get in beside her.

May sniffed and wiped her eyes again. She could feel it; they were puffy and red. _How attractive, _she thought bitterly. _Though, it can't get much worse. At least that's something good to think about… Not._

Drew turned slowly to observe her. May could feel his eyes on her and she started to feel a little self conscious.  
"Where to, May?" He asked, breaking the silence.

May sniffed again and looked up. "The Pokemon Center."

"Alright, you heard her," Drew nodded towards the taxi cab driver.

"This weather is crazy. If I knew I had to drive in conditions like this I wouldn't ever have become a taxi driver… not like I had much choice," the diver muttered under his breath darkly. Normally May would have giggled at that, but her spirits were so low. She didn't think anything could possibly make her laugh at that moment.

Only fueling May's bad mood was the awkward tension that had filled up the car. It was so strong, that May was sure the driver could feel it, too. The couple in the backseat stared out opposite windows, avoiding eye contact. Though once in awhile, they would throw sneaky glances at each other out of the corners of their eyes.  
It was so unbearable, especially because they both knew why it was so tense and awkward. _He_ was supposed to be there. He had _promised. _He knew how important this contest was to May and he knew how much she wanted him, her rival to be there.

Even though May was sort of glad, in a way, that Drew hadn't shown up to see her disaster, it was still horribly disappointing that he had broken his promise. Maybe it would have been a tad more bearable if he had been there, even though he definitely wouldn't have anything comforting to say at all.  
So they avoided eye contact and avoided talking what they should have been talking about for the remaining twenty minutes.

"Alright, here we are, sweetheart." The driver had pulled up to the curb of the Pokemon Center. At least, May thought it was a curb. It was hard to tell with the million feet of snow that had piled up.

"Thank you," May mumbled sincerely. She dug through her pocket somewhat reluctantly to pull out some money but Drew held out his arm. Her skin burned with a peculiar sensation where his skin made contact with hers.  
"I'll cover the money," Drew said, not looking at her.

"Thanks," she muttered again, not looking at him either. She sniffed and opened the door, running out of the car and towards the doors that entered into the heaven that was the Pokemon Center.

Suddenly, she heard a voice behind her. "Wait."

May turned around quickly, irritated. If she had to stand in this cold for another minute, she felt she was going to hurt someone… very badly.

Drew pulled out a rose from behind his back and tossed it to her. May caught it, stunned. She knew she shouldn't really have been surprised by this action, since it was typical Drew. She had probably been given over a hundred rose from him in the past two-three years that she had known him.  
"May."

"Yes?"

"You'll always be number one, you know that, right? No matter how badly and horribly you fail." Drew tossed back his head, flipping his hair. He pulled open the door to the cab and got in without another word.

They drove away into the blizzard, a black dot amongst the swirling white. Soon, it was swallowed up by the snow and May could see no more.

She should have been comforted, but she wasn't. It was a compliment… But it felt more like an insult to her. _Horribly… Fail…_The hurtful words ran around and around in her head.

It looked like it was going to be another sleepless night.

* * * * *

_Wow, that was a lot longer than I expected it to be. I hope I didn't bore anyone xD_

_I realized I started this on a very depressive note. Christmas is about being happy and jolly, not worried and upset like May.  
Don't worry; everything will get happier and Christmasier as we get farther into the month. Stayed tuned! :D_

_Reviews anyone? :)_


	2. December 4th

_The Ikarishipping portion of this fic is dedicated to __**Arysd**__. It was by reading her stories that I started to accept Dawn and Paul as a pair… :)_

_This is definitely a jollier chapter than the last._

_* * * * *_

_  
_**December 3rd**

Dawn

* * * * *

Red and Green.

Everywhere that Dawn looked, she saw those colors stand out against the boring whites and browns of the department store. Christmas was in the air and decorations were strung about every possibly place and way. Hanging down from the ceiling was a large wreath, adorned with a deep red bow. At the end of the aisle were two large Christmas trees. They glittered with multicolored lights and the light reflected off of the red and gold bobbles.

Dawn was practically in heaven. Christmas was without a doubt her favorite time of year (besides Valentines Day, of course). It wasn't just the presents and the family gatherings that made her love it so much; the general atmosphere everywhere she went was absolutely fervent and simply joyous. It only added to her already happy and bubbly personality.

Another thing that was great about Christmas to Dawn was the shopping. The atmosphere in all of the stores was probably the best out of anywhere, especially in the malls (though not last minute Christmas Eve Christmas shopping- if that was anything, it was hectic. But Dawn never got caught in that).  
So here we find Dawn, walking into a quiet, peaceful department store, all alone. She didn't mind that she was without company; sometimes she preferred being alone while buying things for others, as she had more room to think. While buying clothes, she definitely needed her girls there for their opinions. But this day was strictly a gift shopping day. Ash and Brock definitely weren't the shopping kind of guys, and she knew they'd get bored in a matter of minutes. She knew she'd be much better off without Ash's constant moaning. Though, it would have been nice to have someone hold her bags…

"I'm dreaming of a white Christmas…" A festive song was playing over the loudspeaker. Dawn walked down an aisle, observing a large array of perfumes on the shelves as she hummed along quietly to herself.

"…Just like the ones I used to know…."

_Hmm, this one smells delicious!_ Dawn thought as she sniffed a perfume in a pretty orange and pink bottle. _And it's cheap, too! _Dawn scanned the price tag and then sprayed the sampler her wrists. _Oops. Better not get side tracked! _

Dawn reluctantly put the bottle of perfume back down onto its shelf and proceeded down the next aisle. She had arrived at the hair products now; she was about to turn around to browse different aisles, since she saw no need to get anyone hair products, but a label caught her eye. "Hair tamer for men" is what it read.

"I should get that for Ash," Dawn mused to herself before she let out a little giggle and set the bottle back down.

Dawn browsed around at random for a while, but nothing caught her eye for anyone. "This is a little harder than I though it would be," she muttered as she bit her lip. But Dawn shook the negative thoughts out of her mind. _There's still plenty of time left, and a million other stores, too!_

She looked around a suddenly realized that she was surrounded by three pairs of couples. One of the women was trying to ask her husband's opinion on new shower curtains for their bathroom. He tried to make himself look interesting once he realized his wife was asking her opinion. The second couple was ogling over some Christmas decorations.  
"Oh, Aaron, look at this ornament! Isn't it so CUTE?" The women simpered, blinking her eyelashes at her boyfriend

"If you want it, Brianna, I'll buy it for you," Aaron replied, staring lovingly into her eyes.

"Oh, I love you so much!" Brianna yelled before she flung herself into his arms.

The last couple, who were the oldest, looked at Brianna and Aaron and shook there heads. "The young couples these days… Too much public displays of affection," said the man disapprovingly.

Dawn stifled a giggle as she watched the three couples. They were all so different yet so alike in the way that it was so obvious how much they loved their partner. This realization made Dawn feel a little lonely all of a sudden- all of these people would have a romantic Christmas. They would all have their other half to spend it with them and love them and make them happy. _And all I have are two annoying boys! _She said in her mind. But that wasn't true; she loved Ash and Brock very much, though not in _that _way. Suddenly, looking around at all of the happy couples, she had realized that she wanted to be one of them. She wanted someone to hold her like Aaron was holding Brianna. She wanted someone to give her flowers and kisses and make her feel loved.

_Like that's going to happen any time soon, _Dawn huffed to herself. _I haven't had a boyfriend since Richard back in 5__th__ grade!_

Dawn walked away from the happy couples, trying to shake off the whiny feelings. _I've got no reason to be upset, _she told herself firmly. _I'm so young- I have at least ten years to find love like that! _

"No need to worry," she told herself confidently, the optimistic smile reappearing on her face. Dawn pushed the lonely thoughts out of her mind and continued browsing around the store.

Dawn was looking at some necklaces on display at the jewelry counters when she noticed a familiar purple head out of the corner of her eye.  
_Is that Paul? _She wondered, cocking her head to the side. _What's he doing looking at jewelry?  
_"Looking to buy some jewelry for a special girl, huh?" Dawn said coyly as she walked up to Paul.

Paul turned around slowly, glaring at her. Dawn kept smiling; it wasn't like she had expected any better reaction from _him._ "What, are you hoping it's for you?" he shot back, mocking her. "Never in a million years."

Dawn felt like he had just delivered a blow to her stomach- or rather, somewhere in her chest area. _What's this weird feeling I'm getting? And why am I getting it? _She wondered in her head.  
Dawn felt her face fall slightly for a second, but she immediately regained her composure. She couldn't let Paul see what she had just felt, _whatever_ it was.  
"I was just asking, jeez Paul, no need to get offended," Dawn finally replied, keeping her cool.  
Paul's face didn't change in the slightest. The hardness remained and so did the steely glint, as well.  
"Soooo, out doing some Christmas shopping?" Dawn asked lightly, trying to make the conversation less awkward.

It was a few seconds before Paul replied. He just sighed and turned a little more towards her direction. "Do you ever mind your own business?"

Dawn, affronted, dropped the smile from her face. "I was just making conversation." She felt the heat climb up and onto her face. _Why am I blushing?!_

"Whatever," Paul replied, turning away and looking at the necklaces on display. "If you really want to know, yes, I am. And I'm buying a necklace for my mother, not some stupid girlfriend, for your information."

Dawn tried not to get offended again. She had to remind herself that that was just how Paul talked to people. Also, she was lucky he was even talking to her at all. Once, she had run into him at a Pokemon Center, and she happily yelled out to him in greeting. He had just looked at her and then walked away, glaring, as always, not even acknowledging her.  
"Well, that's… nice," Dawn smiled, struggling to find something to say.

Paul just stifled a tiny nod as he continued to stare down at the array of necklaces. Dawn noticed his brows were furrowed as if he were in deep concentration. She then realized he was probably having a difficult time choosing a necklace. After all, this wasn't a boy's area of expertise- especially one like Paul.  
"Need some help choosing a necklace?" Dawn offered brightly, bounding a step closer to him.

Paul recoiled slightly as she neared him. He looked at her a second or two before replying, contemplating. Finally, he came to a decision. "Fine," he snapped, looking away. "Normally I don't need help from a pipsqueak like you, but…" he trailed off, unable to explain himself.

"But I'm a girl, and know all about fashion and jewelry?" Dawn offered, winking.

Paul regarded her in slight disgust as he replied, "I guess."

"Perfect!" Dawn stared down at the necklaces with him, excited by this new challenge. "Alright, so I need details about your mother. Does she normally wear jewelry? What color is her hair? And her eyes?"

"Why the hell do you want to know that?"

Dawn sighed. "If you want me to help you, you'll have to answer my questions." When Paul didn't respond, she continued. "You see, we'll need something that compliments her features. And if she doesn't wear jewelry lots, you don't want to get something _too_ flashy," she explained.

Paul seemed slightly overwhelmed for a second. Dawn was sure that this was complete news to him. _Boys are so ignorant, _she giggled to herself mentally.  
Paul regained his hard features. "She's got purple hair like mine, though a little darker. Her eyes are blue. Like… yours."

Dawn smiled at his observation. "Does she wear jewelry lots?"

"Once in awhile."

"Alright, let's have a look now."

Dawn peered around at the necklaces for ten minutes. Paul trailed helplessly behind her, torn between amusement, disgust and complete and utter boredom. He seemed relieved when Dawn finally grabbed his arm and dragged him to a necklace that she claimed was "perfect". Though, he wasn't relieved at the fact that she had grabbed his arm. He yanked it back quickly and muttered, "Don't touch me."

Dawn's heart thumped hardly at that moment but she didn't register that flood of emotion on her face. She just continued leading Paul to a glass case near the center.

"There," she pointed, indicating a necklace set on a white velvet cushion.

It was positively beautiful; the necklace was a simple triangular sapphire held in a silver clasp that had two small white crystals on either side. The chain was a thin, simple snake chain. The display said it was real silver.

Paul didn't have much of a reaction so Dawn started talking again. "I asked the lady if I could try it on. It looked amazing with my eyes, so if they're like your mom's, this necklace will look good on her. Plus, the blue would go nice with her dark purple hair as well."

"Can I see it on you?"

"What?" Dawn whipped around to look at Paul. His face was serious; though, that was the last question she'd ever expect him to ask.

"Are you deaf? I said, could you wear it? I want to make sure what you said was true. I'm not going to pay that much money unless I know that it's worth it." Paul rolled his eyes nonchalantly.

"Uh, okay…" Dawn replied, confused. She asked the saleslady if she could try it on once more. Soon she was wearing the beautiful necklace and admiring herself in one of the mirrors.  
"See how it really matches my eyes perfectly? It doesn't stand out too much on me, since my hair's blue, but it'll really pop on your mom since she has purple hair…" Dawn blabbed on self consciously. She had to admit, the necklace did look stunning on her. Never before had she seen a stone that was almost precisely the same color as her eyes and hair. Even though, like she said, it didn't stand out on her, the necklace balanced her features out in a peculiarly perfect way. The only word to describe it was '_stunning'_.

Dawn looked at the reflection in the mirror and saw Paul staring at her through it. She turned around quickly, embarrassed. "Sorry. I shouldn't be staring at myself in it like that. Here, have a look."

Paul narrowed his eyes slightly in thought as he stared at Dawn. This made her even more self-conscious. She fidgeted under his intense gaze, trying hard not to blush.

"It's…nice on you," Paul finally said.

_Did PAUL just say a compliment? _Dawn screamed in her head. She was so shocked. "Umm, thanks, Paul," she said, unable to stop her cheeks flushing with pink, for some strange reason unknown to her.

"What I meant was, it would look great on my mother," Paul said, struggling to somehow correct his accidental compliment.

Dawn reached behind her head to try to unclasp the necklace. "Yeah, it would." She succeeded at unhooking the clasp and took one last look at herself with it on in the mirror. "Too bad I have to take it off now… I really do love it," she sighed. She turned around reluctantly and handed the necklace to Paul. He nodded in what Dawn suppose was his way of saying 'thank you' and then walked off to pay for the necklace.

Dawn searched along the glass counters, trying to find another one of the Sapphire necklaces.

"Can I help you with anything, dear?" came the voice of the friendly saleswoman.

"Yes, actually. Do you have any other copies of the Sapphire necklace that my friend had just purchased? I just fell absolutely in love with it," Dawn smiled jovially.

The woman's lips turned down a in a sad little smile. "Unfortunately, we don't. That necklace was one of a kind."

"Oh," Dawn said, disappointed. For some reason, she had developed a weird attachment to the necklace, even though she had only worn it for no more than five minutes

"I'm terribly sorry. We have other ones like it though, over here." The lady led Dawn over back towards the container that once held the Sapphire necklace. Dawn peered down excitedly, but she was disappointed. None of them had the same beauty that the one Paul bought had. Maybe she was too set on getting one that looked exactly like that necklace, that her mind had closed up to other options.

"Hmm, those ones aren't exactly what I'm looking for. Thank you though, ma'am."

Dawn smiled placidly at the lady, and then turned away, disappointed. She immediately looked around to find Paul, but he was nowhere in sight. Well, it was typical Paul, to disappear like that without even a 'goodbye'.

_Paul, what a guy…_Dawn thought, sighing. Her heart fluttered slightly as she stared off into the distance, thinking…

* * *

_Wow.  
I'm actually SOOO surprised at how much I enjoyed writing this chapter.  
Like, blown away.  
I was SO not an Ikariship person, but now… I don't know xD It's just so much fun to write!_

_Tell me how I'm doing, what you liked about the story so far, what you'd like to see, etc. Review! (:_


	3. December 7th

_The good thing about this story is that if you don't like a certain pairing that I have here, such as Dawn and Paul, you can just skip over the chapters with them. It won't affect the rest of the story for you (though they do tie in somewhat together).  
So, for example, if you dislike Pokeshipping, you can just skip this chapter and wait for the next one, which will be a different shipping :)_

_And thank you guys so much for all of the positive feedback :) I really appreciate your reviews!_

* * * * *

**December 7****th**

Ash

* * * * *

There was something painfully familiar about the lake to Ash.  
Eventually he figured out why the lake reminded him about her so much, but it took him a few minutes.  
It wasn't the fact that he was staring at water- it's not like every time he heard the word water he thought of her just because she was a water type trainer. That had happened when they first parted, but that was years ago. He had gotten over it.  
It wasn't because he and her had once been to a lake that resembled the one Ash was staring at. He racked his brain for a few minutes and couldn't remember them ever visiting a lake like this one in their travels through Kanto and Johto.

So after a few minutes of seeing nothing, he decided to picture her as clearly as he could: the flaming, orange hair (that definitely had nothing to do with a lake), her skinny figure (that doesn't even relate), the jean shorts she used to wear, her eyes that were always somewhere in between green and blue, her angry temper…

_Hold on a second._

It was then that Ash realized that the color of the lake was almost the exact same peculiar sea green-blue of Misty's eyes. The sky reflected off of the lake, giving it the usual blue, and the pine trees that surrounded it added it that emerald forest green color.  
Ash had always been fascinated by Misty's eyes, though he had never admitted it. That was probably why the lake had captivated him the moment he had laid eyes on it. He was drawn towards it, and the familiarity it had to him sent a happy yet sad jolt through his heart.  
Now he knew why.

"Misty…" Ash moaned, suddenly feeling nostalgic. From his right, Pikachu looked up at him, concerned. "Pika, Pikachu…" it said, trying to comfort his partner.

Ash smiled slightly when he looked at Pikachu. "You miss her too, don't you buddy?"

"Chaaa," Pikachu sighed in agreement.  
Ash wasn't the only one who missed Misty (though he was sure no one missed her like he did). Pikachu adored Misty- she was probably his second favorite person in the whole world. They had grown so attached while they had known each other- more than Pikachu had with May or Dawn. Of course, Pikachu loved them both too, but they didn't quite share the same bond Misty and Pikachu did.

Ash sighed and opened the largest pocket in his backpack. In there he opened a tiny secret pocket from which he pulled out a large handkerchief. It was mostly pink, with red trim and yellow stripes down the middle.

Ash ran his hands over and over the handkerchief, enjoying the softness on his fingertips. Despite the fact that it had been taken out and played with on several occasions, it was still in great condition. Ash never wanted to rip it even a millimeter; he never used it anymore. Instead, he took it out once in awhile, probably once a week on average. Though, he only did this in private. He didn't want anyone to catch him with such vulnerability. The only person he could share this moment with was Pikachu, of course.

"Pika, pikachupi, pika pika pi?" Pikachu scampered up on Ash's shoulder, asking him why he doesn't just call Misty instead of sitting here feeling sad about her.

"I guess I could…" Ash replied, holding the handkerchief up to his face now. "I just think that if I talk to her and actually see her, I'll start to miss her more, you know?"

"Pi pi pikachu, pika." Pikachu told Ash that he shouldn't run away from something like that, just because he's afraid of getting hurt.

"I know, you're right," Ash sighed. He smelled the handkerchief, hoping to get her scent. But he had held this piece of fabric so many times, that all traces of her had left.

"Pika!" Pikachu suddenly scampered down from his shoulder and away from the lake.

"Where are you going?" Ash yelled, getting up to run after his buddy.

Instead of seeing Pikachu running down the hills towards the town, where Ash thought he'd go, he found him sitting in Dawn's arms.

"Hey, Ash!" Dawn greeted, scratching Pikachu on the head.

"Hey Dawn," Ash returned, hastily shoving the handkerchief in his pocket.

"What's that you got there?" Dawn asked, curious. _Crap, I wasn't quick enough, _Ash thought.

"Uh, nothing," Ash quickly said, walking down towards Snowpoint with her. He threw one last glance at the Misty eyes colored lake. "So, how did your shopping go?" Ash asked, trying to change the subject and distract Dawn from what he was hiding.

"It was pretty good. I bought my mom some of Snowpoint's famous chocolates and a bracelet from this cute little boutique. Then I bought Brock…" Dawn chirped on about her shopping trip at the mall, but Ash started to zone out. He was hardly paying attention to what she was saying anymore. He hadn't meant to be so rude; his mind was so focused on Misty at that moment that nothing else seemed important. _When will I ever see her again?_ Ash thought, biting his lip. _We're never going to travel together like we used to… Nothing's ever the same…_

"Ash? Ash! Did you hear me?"

Ash shook his head as Dawn snapped him out of his reverie. He turned towards her, his face apologetic. "Yeah um, sounds cool, Dawn!"

"Did you even hear what I said?"

"You got your mom some chocolates?"

Dawn sighed, a little impatient. "No, I said I ran into Paul."

"Oh." Ash tried to pay a little more attention to what his friend was saying.

"Yeah, he was buying a necklace for his mom."

"Wow, I didn't think Paul could be so nice," Ash mused, smirking.

"Give him a break, Ash," Dawn replied.

"Yeah, yeah," Ash responded, growing more and more distracted.

They had reached the Pokemon Center. Dawn seemed to notice his inattentiveness and weariness, so she decided to stop badgering him. "Well, I'm going to go wrap my presents. Do you want to come? Or…" she trailed off, waiting.

"Nah, you go ahead. I need to make a phone call," Ash added.

"Alright, I'll see you in a bit," Dawn smiled before dancing away down the hallway.

"Pika!" Pikachu called over from the video telephones on the right of the center.

"Yeah, I'm coming, Pikachu." Ash ran over to one of the green phones and sat down. He took a deep breath. Before he could change his mind, he jabbed in Misty's gym's number (which he knew off by heart) at top speed.  
The ringing sound commenced and Ash's heart sped up considerably. _I'm going to see Misty; I'm going to see Misty…_

"Hello?" A highly snobby voice rang out and a beautiful blonde girl appeared on the screen.

_This must be Violet_, Ash noticed_. Or wait, is it Daisy!?_

"Hey, uh, could I talk to Misty? It's Ash."

"Sorry, but like, Misty's doing some like, _super_ important training now," Daisy said seriously, flipping her golden hair over her shoulder.

Ash's heart sunk. "She doesn't have time to talk?"

"Like, I already like, said that, did I not?"

"Yeah uh, could you tell her to call Ash back at the Snowpoint Pokemon Center?"

"Of course, but like, don't expect her to call you back any time soon. She's like, _totally_ busy with the gym, and she like, doesn't have any time for like, dates and boys."

Ash blinked. "Alright, just tell her I called, please."

Daisy replied, "Like, whatever," at the same time as a familiar voice yelled, "WAIT, DAISY, DON'T HANG UP!" Ash caught a flash of red hair and a bikini clad skinny body before the screen abruptly went black and shut off.

"Great…" Ash sighed in disappointment. He was about to get up and walk away in sadness, but he heard a ring from the phone behind him. "Call from: Cerulean City Gym."

Ash whipped around and jabbed his finger into the green "answer" button.

"Ash?"

Ash stared intently at the screen and the ever so familiar face of the redhead he adored so much appeared. His face broke out into a huge smile. "Hey, Misty," he grinned. Pikachu hopped down and in front of the screen, yelling, "Pikachupi!"

"Hey Pikachu! It's great to see you!" she smiled widely. "Sorry about Daisy," Misty added, rolling her eyes. "She's gotten so strict about our training schedule lately."

Ash noticed that her hair was dripping and that she had a white towel draped around her shoulders. "You just get out of the pool?" he asked.

"Yep," Misty asserted brightly, completely unaware of the fact that she was probably dripping a huge puddle on the floor.  
Ash tried not to let his eyes wander appreciatively down her body, which was clad in a soft blue bikini and revealed a _lot_ of her figure. She had changed quite a lot since he had last seen her. These changes were especially noticeable to a man's eye, like Ash. He forced himself to keep his eyes on her face, which turned out to be not such a hard of a thing to do. He kept his eyes focused on her brilliantly colored ones without a problem.

"That's cool," he replied, not really aware of what he was saying.

"So what are you plans for this Christmas?" Misty asked, taking the towel and wiping herself down somewhat.

"Christmas?" Ash scratched his head, thinking. "Oh man, I didn't realize it was already the seventh," he groaned. Had the time passed that quickly?

"Still dense as ever," Misty muttered humorously. A twinkle appeared in her eye as she smirked at Ash.

"Haha," Ash laughed self consciously. He lifted his arm and scratched the back of his head. "Well, I don't have any plans, yet. I guess I'll probably be spending it here around Snowpoint with Brock and Dawn."

"Oh, well I heard from Brock's brother, who runs the gym now, that he's going back to Pewter to spend Christmas with his family," Misty responded curiously.

"Hmm, Brock never mentioned that," Ash thought out loud. _Hmm, that means Brock's going back to Kanto…_Ash thought._ If he's going back home, why shouldn't I?__  
_And then it hit Ash. He could go back to Kanto for the Christmas holidays and spend it with his mom! He definitely didn't want her to be lonely again this time of year. Plus, he could see Misty…

"Well Mist, if Brock is going back to Kanto, then-" Ash cut himself off abruptly. _Wait, _he told himself. _I don't HAVE to tell Misty that I might go back to Pallet for Christmas… Hey, I could surprise her!_

"Then what?" Misty questioned slowly, curious.

"Then uh, I guess it'll be just me and Dawn," Ash quickly covered up.

"Oh," Misty replied, leaning back into her chair. Was it just Ash, or did Misty look slightly ruffled and disappointed?

"Yeah," Ash said, trying not to go red to give anything away. He hoped he hadn't been too obvious. Misty was really smart; she obviously knew he had covered something up. But she was also intelligent enough to know when someone didn't want to talk about something; that didn't mean it never stopped her from doing so.

"What are you embarrassed out?" Misty asked, her eyes narrowing.

"Huh, what?" Ash flinched, caught completely off guard. Misty had that effect on him quite a lot, and he had forgotten that.

"You're trying to hide something, aren't you?"

"What? No, I'm not?"

"Yes, you are."

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"Why don't you just believe me for once?"

"Because, Ash Ketchum, I can see right through you!"

"No you can't!"

"Yes I can! And I always could!"

"Whatever, Misty."

"Shut up Ash. Just tell me what you were going to say."

"You just told me to shut up, so I won't say anything."

"Wow, grown a little smart ass since I last saw you, have you?"

"Maybe I have!"

"Just tell me!"

"NO!"

"TELL ME!"

"NO!"

"I'M WARNING YOU, ASH KETCHUM, IF YOU DON'T TELL ME, I'M GOING TO HANG UP ON YOU AND YOU WON'T HEAR A PEEP OUT OF ME FOR A WHOLE TEN YEARS!"

"Go ahead, then."

This obviously was the wrong thing for Ash to say, because Misty growled in frustrating and all of a sudden the screen went black. Right away, Ash considered calling her back, and he started dialing in her number, but stopped. He knew she needed time to cool down, and so did he, or else they would just recommence fighting again. _But maybe that's what I want, _Ash thought to himself. He then decided that he wouldn't give in; he'd sit there and wait for _her_ to call him.

After sitting down on the chair for another five minutes, staring at the screen expectantly, Ash started to lose hope. It was now evident that Misty had meant it when she had said she wouldn't talk to him.

_Oh well, _Ash thought bitterly. Suddenly, his face broke out into a huge smile. At first he didn't know why he was smiling so largely and randomly. He felt like he looked like an idiot, since he was standing the middle of the Pokemon Center with a ginormous grin on his face.  
But after approximately thirty seconds, he no longer cared that he looked a fool. He had realized that he had just had a great fight with Misty. Usually someone wouldn't be smiling so largely after they had just had a fight with their best friend, but it had always been different with Ash and Misty. Secretly, they adored fighting with each other- especially now. They rarely saw each other, so when they fought it reminded them of the good old days.

Ash decided he had better move from his random stationary spot on the floor, since people were starting to give him curious and strange looks. He went to him, Dawn and Brocks room and flopped down on his bead with a huge, content sigh. Putting his arms behind his head and crossing his legs, he started replaying the fight with Misty over in his head.

"Why are you so happy?" Brock questioned from the bed beside his.

"Huh?" Ash mumbled, not quite aware of what his friend has just asked him.

Dawn, who was sitting on the floor in between the two boys' beds amidst a pile of boxes and wrapping paper, piped up, "He said he had to make a phone call."

"Ah," Brock said knowledgeably. "Talking to Misty?"

Ash snapped his head up at Brock. "What? Yeah."

Brock just chuckled and returned to his book. Dawn looked at Ash with a glint in her eye. "Misty, eh?" she interrogated in a sly voice.

"Yeah," Ash replied, completely unaware of her insinuation.

"She's the one you have the lure of right? The one you always talk about?"

"That's the one," Brock added unexpectedly from behind his book.

Ash felt himself going red. "I do _not_ always talk about her," he mumbled.

Dawn winked at him. "It's okay, your secret's safe with me!"

"What secret?" Ash miffed, growing more and more annoyed by the second.

"You know what I'm talking about," Dawn concluded before looking back down to the box she was wrapping.

"Arg, whatever," Ash stormed, turning around to lay on his left side so he didn't have to face her or Brock, who were both smiling in an annoyingly satisfied way.

But she was exactly right;

He _did_ know what she was talking about.

But was it true?

Ash pictured Misty's angry face from ten minutes previous and remembered the furious words she had screamed. His stomach did a flip-flop and his heart fluttered.

_Yes_, Ash thought. _It definitely __**had**__ to be true_.

* * *

_Review?_ :)

**Next Update**: Thursday, December 10th


	4. December 10th

**Disclaimer: **I don't know any of the songs included in this chapter, which includes _**Last Christmas – The Maine**_and _**Christmases When You Were Mine –Taylor Swift**_ and_**River- Sarah McLachlan**_. I don't own iPods… Or Pokemon… As much as I wish I did. :)

Thanks everyone for the support. It really means a lot to me :)  
Hopefully I write the next chapter on time. I've had all of chapter so far written five or so days before I posted them… But I haven't started writing the next one yet. Eek… I better get on that! Hopefully I'll post it up on time… Which would be December 13th!

*** * ***

**December 10th  
**May

* * *

"Last Christmas, I gave you my heart… The very next day, you gave it away…"

A teenager clad in an orange and green outfit danced around in a small, plain room. She had completely forgotten that she wasn't, in fact, in her own room, but in a hotel room. This was why she was singing her heart out along to some festive songs, utterly oblivious to the fact that everyone on her floor could probably hear her.

"This year, to save me from tears, I'll give it to someone special," May sang, swinging her iPod around. The brunette danced over to her PokéNav, which was sitting on the bedside table. She had seen the screen light up, indicating that she had received a text message.  
May flipped open the yellow device while nodding along to the beat of the song she was listening to. The text was from her friend Meena, a psychic type trainer who was also traveling in the Johto region, sometimes with her.  
"_Hey May! :) What's up? I haven't seen you around lately," _Meena had sent.

May responded, "_Blackthorn. & I know! I miss you!_" as she sang out, "Now I've found a real love, you'll never fool me again…"

'A real love' - that was something that May really wanted for Christmas. She had been so lonely lately – traveling alone really had some repercussions. May had thought that she would learn more independence and develop her own sense of style if she was to travel alone, and so far that idea had become successful. But, that didn't mean that it wasn't a difficult process. She often became really lonely, which led her to become even more focused and absorbed in all of her negative thoughts. There was no one constantly with her to distract her and talk things out with.  
See, if she had 'a real love', she wouldn't feel lonely anymore. She'd have someone to travel with, to talk to, to hold her…

_Wow, I really need to stop thinking about this, _May thought. She knew that depressing herself over something she really had no control over wasn't going to make matters worse. _I'll just have to tough it out. I have always got my Pokemon, too, _she reminded herself.

The girl sighed and took out her iPod as The Maine's version of _Last Christmas_ ended. She turned the wheel until she got to Taylor Swift. She pressed the center button on the song, _Christmases When You Were Mine._

"Please take down the mistletoe, because I don't want to think about that right now…" May sang out in what she hoped was in tune with the music. She swayed back in forth on the edge of the bed, completely enveloped in the music. The notes danced around in her head, hitting May right in chest, at her heart. She had always connected on a deep level to every song she listened to; she always took the mood of whatever she was listening to at the time. Since the current song she was listening to was slow and sad, May started to feel sad.

"… But for me it's a lonely time, 'cause there were Christmases when you were mine…"

She stood up and twirled around, completely in her own universe. Her eyes were closed and her hands up, moving back and forth to the music. "Cause there were Christmases when you were mine," May finished as the song ended.  
She fished around her iPod for another Christmas song and found _River_ by Sara McLachlan. This song brought back many memories for the Coordinator. When May was younger and still living at home, her mom would play a collection of Christmas songs during the holidays. _River _was always one of May's favorite; she used to beg her mother to play it over and over again. May and her mother would lie on the floor of their living room below the Christmas tree with pillows under their heads. They would hold hands and close their eyes, letting the melody envelop them. May would marvel at the beauty of her mother's voice and how it almost matched the singer's exactly. When her daughter asked how she sang so beautifully, Caroline told her daughter that she had to let her body go and let the music take her wherever it desired. May was still confused as to what that had to do with singing, so Caroline just told her daughter that she had to let it flow naturally and not think about it too much.  
This is what May was doing in her hotel room. "I wish I had a river, I could skate away on…" The teenager's heart soared and she sniffed slightly as she watched the loving memories in her mind that the song brought back for her. "Oh, I wish I had a river so long, I would teach my feet to, fly...." May hit a super long note, belting it out with everything she could muster, without even thinking about it. By this time, she was laying on the ground, pretending she was lying under a Christmas tree like her mother and she had. _Maybe I _should_ go home for the holidays… _May thought with a sigh.

She stood up, still enveloped in the song, which was nearing the end. The brunette looked at the windows, which showed a dark night sky, then glanced at the clock, which read 5:03. _Time to go get something to eat,_ May sighed.

"It's coming on Christmas; they're cutting down trees, putting up reindeer, singing songs of joy and peace…" May sang some of the last lyrics of the song as she flopped on her bed and proceeded to dig through her bag to find her wallet. At the corner of her eye, she saw her PokéNav light up. She reached for it and flipped it open, expecting to see a reply from Meena.  
Instead, an unknown number had sent her a text. It said, "_You really should take some singing lessons. You're giving me a headache."_

Thoroughly embarrassed, May immediately shut her mouth. "Who the heck is that from?" May said aloud, becoming slightly creeped out.  
She texted back, typing, "_Who is this? How did you get my number?!_"

Waiting for the reply, May ripped her earphones out from her ears and shut off her iPod. She had developed a deep, strong feeling of unease that had settled somewhere in her stomach. _This person is totally creepy, _she thought_. And how did he get my number? I can't be _that_ bad at singing, can I?_

A few seconds later, her PokéNav buzzed, alerting May of a new text message.  
"_Knock Knock,"_ was all it said.  
Her heart beating fast, May cautiously walked over to the door. She took a deep breath, unlocked it, and opened it slowly, revealing her mystery texter.

Ah. She should have expected _him_.

Who was it?

It was Drew, of course.

He stood there, his green hair flopped around his face stylishly, a diabolic grin plastered across his face. He was holding up a blue PokéNav.

May immediately felt herself turn bright crimson. _Oh Arceus, he heard me singing! How EMBARASSING! _She thought, horrified. "D-Drew, hi," she bit her lip nervously, still flustered. That feeling of humiliation increased considerably when she recalled their previous encounter over a week ago. He had obviously heard about or seen some of her epic fail of a contest performance… and now this!

Drew just smirked in reply. He walked into her hotel room, basically inviting himself in. He looked around at the clothes and books that May had scattered around the room when she was digging through her bag. "What a mess," he observed. "Though, it's fitting for a girl with just as messy of a voice," Drew added mockingly.

May felt a sharp jab inside somewhere around heart. _How dare _he_ insult me?_ May was angry beyond belief (mostly out of embarrassment), but she forced herself to ignore it. She knew that freaking out at him would make her look even more of an idiot, and she definitely did not want that. _Play it cool, _she told herself firmly.

"So…" May racked her brain for something to say. "How did you get my number?"

Drew flipped his hair with his fore and middle fingers. "Why do you care?"

"I just want to know, geez!" May burst out, completely forgetting her plan to keep her calm and composure.

Drew shrugged as he leaned back into the pillows of her bed, spinning a pokeball on his finger like a basketball.

"Ugggggggh," May growled in frustration. "Just tell me, you idiot!"

Drew chuckled slightly as he continued to watch the pokeball spin.

May, furious, whipped out her arm at top speed to snatch the pokeball out of his hands. Drew, of course, was too quick for her; he placed the ball back in his pocket. Finally, he looked up at May with an obviously fake politely curious look.

May heaved a huge, choleric sigh/growl and glared at him straight in the eye.

Drew uttered a little "hmph!" before replying. "It so happens that my hotel room is right next to yours. I was trying to catch up on a little sleep, when I heard some awfully loud singing." He waited, looking at the girl beside him for her reaction.

May forced her face into what she hoped was a nonchalant look before telling him to continue.

"So I was going to go complain to the front desk, but I realized that it sounded a lot like you," Drew continued.

"Fun," May seethed sarcastically.

"After a while I knew it was you; who else would be that horrible at singing? So, here I am," Drew finished with a smirk.

May wanted to scream at him, "IF I'M THAT BAD AT SINGING, WHY DIDN'T YOU JUST PUT IN SOME EARPLUGS, YOU DIMBO!?" but she knew that yelling at him like that would get them nowhere. So she uttered a mildly interested "Hmmm," before picking up her PokéNav and pretending to text Meena back.

"Anyway, I've got to run. Unlike you, I've got more productive things to do than sing like a loner in my hotel room." Drew stood up and headed towards the door with hardly a glance back at May.

"What, you've got to go sign some autographs for a bunch of squealing fangirls?" May shot back, struggling to keep her anger in check.

Drew chuckled, turning around to face her slightly. "At least _I _have fans." With that, he walked out of the room, not bothering to shut the door.

"Whatever," May muttered, even though Drew probably couldn't hear her anymore. She sighed and commenced picking up the items that were scattered around the room.  
Bending down to pick up a book behind the bed, May heard a voice come from the doorway.  
"Oh yeah, I almost forgot."

She straightened up and turned around to face the door. Drew was standing there, smiling. He tossed her a red flower, which she immediately caught with her right hand.  
She noticed the rose was shaped weirdly as it flew through the air, so once it was in her hand she held it up to observe it. "Run out of roses, have we?" May said coyly as she realized that the flower she was holding wasn't a rose after all, but a poinsettia.

"Nope," Drew corrected. "Just feeling Christmasy." He turned around exited the room, shutting the door this time.  
May stood there for a second, staring at the door. She then flopped down on her bed, abandoning her task of cleaning up the room. May stared at the poinsettia, thinking about Drew once again.  
Approximately 34 seconds later, May's PokéNav began ringing. Having a strong suspicious of whom the caller was, May didn't bother to look at the Caller's ID. She pressed the green button and bellowed into the phone, "WHAT NOW, DREW?"

There was a split second of silence on the other end before a response came. "Uh, this isn't Drew…"

* * *

_I really recommend the three songs I mentioned in this fic. Especially The Maine's version of "Last Christmas". The lead singer's voice is amazing.  
"River" is super good too. I based May's memory of her and her mom along with that song to one of mine. Around this time of year, my mom always plays that song, and one time we laid on the floor singing along to it. Ahh, Good times. What are some of your favorite Christmas memories? :)_

_  
Ah, I absolutely love Christmas time :)_


	5. December 13th

_  
__Alors, voici le cinquième chapitre !  
_

Wheee :)

I hope you enjoy this chapter!

* * * * *

**December 13****th**

Dawn

* * * * *

"Alright, Mamoswine, use Ice Shard!"

Mamoswine closed its eyes in concentration. A silvery-blue ball of ice formed at the base of its tusks, growing in size as the seconds ticked on by.

"You can do it, just a little bigger!" Dawn stood a few feet away from her Pokemon, yelling out encouragements.

"Pip, piplup!" Piplup chanted its encouragements, as well.

The size of the ball of ice increased slightly. "Come on, concentrate, Mamoswine," Dawn urged. But no matter what Dawn did, the Ice Shard remained a tad bit bigger than a basketball.  
_It doesn't look like it will get much better than that, for now, _thought Dawn, her spirits sinking slightly. "Okay, that's good. Now send it flying in the air and use Hidden Power," the girl ordered.

Mamoswine flung the Ice Shard up high into the air. It closed its eyes in concentration as it formed its Hidden Power attack. It was so focused on making that one attack just right, that it had forgotten about the Ice Shard that was now soaring downwards, straight at Mamoswine.

"Oh no, Mamoswine, look out!" Dawn screeched just a second too late.

The Ice Shard rammed Mamoswine right on its forehead, leaving a bulbous, red bump. The balls of energy formed by Hidden Power disappeared with a shower of sparkles.

"At least that was pretty," Dawn mumbled as she walked forward slowly towards Mamoswine. "Are you alright?" she asked it.

"Mamooo," it moaned, glaring at her through its one opened it.

"No need to worry, we'll perfect this routine eventually. All it takes is a little more practice," Dawn crooned while stroking Mamoswine's massive cheek. Even though she had said it, she didn't really believe it. They had practiced so much on this routine already, and the more and more they did it, the worse it got, it seemed. Dawn was starting to get slightly discouraged. But she knew she couldn't show it to anyone, especially her Pokemon.

"Alright, time for a break," she sighed, sitting down beside her massive Pokemon. Piplup hopped into her lap. Dawn took out two Pokeballs and pressed the center buttons. "Pachirisu, Buneary, come on out!"

The red lights flashed briefly and then cleared, revealing two small, cute Pokemon.

"Bun bun!"

"Chipah!"

"Alright guys, cuddle in! You don't want to get too cold."

Pachirisu and Buneary crawled into Dawn's lap, joining Piplup. Mamoswine moved closer to Dawn by a few inches. "Aw, come on Mamoswine! Come sit with us," Dawn smiled.

Mamoswine heaved a huge sigh and moved over until it was almost touching Dawn. It looked rather reluctant, but Dawn knew that it wanted to come closer. It was just too stubborn.

The minutes passed by as Dawn and her Pokemon stared at the beautiful sunset in awe. They had a perfect view from the high hill upon which they sat. The sunk sank steadily lower and lower below the vast expanse of trees, casting rich golds, creamy oranges, floral pinks and light lilacs into the sky. Dawn stared at the sunset, sighing, not really thinking of anything.

That was until she heard a voice interrupt her peaceful moment. She couldn't quite make out what the person was saying, but the voice sounded very familiar. She looked to her left, where the voice had come from.  
By the shores of the lake she saw Paul. It seemed as though he was doing some training with his Electabuzz.

"Paul!" Dawn yelled suddenly before she could think. "Paul, over here!" She waved her arms in the air, motioning him over to where she sat. She saw him return his Pokemon to its ball, and walk slowly over to where she sat. Dawn couldn't tell for sure from such a distance, but it appeared as though he was glaring. _No surprise there, _she thought with a chuckle.

After a few more moments, Paul was standing beside Dawn. "What?" he asked rudely.

Dawn took no offense to his insolence; she was too used to it by now. "Want to sit down?" she offered, motioning towards the empty space on her right.

Paul scowled (of course) and sat down beside her, seemingly reluctant. He leaned back on his arms and pulled his knees up near his chest.

"So, you doing some training?" Dawn asked amiably, trying to make conversation. Trying to have a polite, normal conversation with Paul was like seeing a legendary Pokemon; it was super rare and only the lucky got to experience it. But Dawn knew that in that area she had been pretty lucky already- she had seen tons, like Mesprit, Deoxys, Regigigas, Heatran, Palkia, Dialga, Giratina, Arceus… No, scratch that. She had been _super_ lucky. So why couldn't she get lucky with Paul?  
_No, that's a stupid comparison_, thought Dawn. _Maybe it would be more accurate to say that having a friendly talk with Paul is like _catching_ a legendary Pokemon_.

"Yeah, what's it to you?" Paul answered, not looking at Dawn.

"Oh, I was just curious," Dawn replied back, trying to keep the atmosphere light and cheery.

Paul doesn't reply. Instead he keeps looking off into the distance. Dawn observed him and concluded that he looked very deep in thought. Because of this, she decided to not badger him any more with conversation she knew he didn't want to make. She decided that it was his turn to start the talk.

It was a few minutes later that Dawn received a shock when Paul suddenly spoke up. "I saw you doing your contest training up here," he said out of the blue.

"Really?" Dawn said. She was just about to ask him what he thought of it, but she remembered that the practice hadn't gone over too well. So she kept her mouth shut and waited to hear what he was going to say.

"The condition of your Pokemon is horrible," he began.

_Oh great, here comes the insults again, _Dawn thought as she braced herself.

"They would lose to anyone in battle, even that pathetic friend of yours, Ash."

Dawn felt her face flush in embarrassment. "Ash isn't pathetic," she insisted, defending her friend. But she wasn't sure if Paul had heard that- right as she said that, Piplup had jumped onto Dawn shoulder and started to Bubblebeam Paul's head.

"Pipipipipipipip!" Piplup yelled, completely offended, as it continued its stream of attacks at Paul.

"Piplup, stop!" Dawn urged as she tried to yank her Pokemon back. But Piplup jumped off of her shoulder and onto the ground, still firing at Paul.

Dawn knew she had no choice. She whipped out a Pokeball that was rarely occupied. "Piplup, return!"

Piplup yelled out an angry protest, but it was swallowed up by the red light and sucked into its Pokeball. "That should teach you a lesson," Dawn barked sternly to the Pokemon inside of its Pokeball.  
She looked up to apologize to Paul on behalf of Piplup, but she realized he was already halfway down the hill. "Paul, wait!" she implored, running down the hill after him. He just shook his head in anger and thundered, "You need to teach your Pokemon some respect." He spat on the ground and continued walking.

Dawn raced after him. "Don't go, I'm sorry," Dawn pleaded and she grabbed his hand to stop him.

"Didn't I tell you not to touch me?" he seethed, turning around sharply to throw daggers at Dawn. His purple hair whipped around his face, falling into his eyes. _He looks so… handsome when his hair falls into his face like that, _Dawn observed suddenly in her head. _Arg! Why do I have to choose this time to notice something like that? _She questioned angrily.  
She looked back into Paul's eyes, unable to stop the hurt from filling hers.

To Dawn's surprise, the fury in Paul's eyes lessened and his features softened somewhat. He looked her straight in the eyes and she stared back, itching to know what thoughts were racing through his mind. Together they stood like that for over a minute, not saying anything, just staring. A peculiar sensation had swooped over the boy and girl, creating a tension unlike any other Dawn had even felt.

_Hmmm… _Dawn furrowed her brows a little as she struggled to understand what she was observing and feeling. _He looks so… so…_

_Kissable._

Dawn forced her blue eyes away from Paul's with immense effort. She looked down at the ground, her breath increased and a little pink blue forming on her cheeks. _What on EARTH is wrong with me? _Dawn thought, panicking slightly. _Paul? KISSABLE?_

"Uh, I'm sorry," Paul muttered, taking a step closer to the blue haired girl. He seemed to be struggling with what he was saying, as if he wasn't quite sure how to apologize to somebody- as if it was something knew to him.

"I-It's okay," Dawn stuttered, already too shocked to be taken by surprise by his uncharacteristic apology. She looked up from the little tuft of grass that was peeking out from the snow at which she had been staring at to face Paul. As she stared at his disheveled hair, angular face and dark eyes, she had never wanted to reach out and touch something so much. If only she could run her fingers through his hair, caress his cheek and feel the stubble underneath her fingertips, press her lips to his-

No.

This was _Paul_.

How could she be thinking- no, _dreaming_- of something like that with _him_?

Dawn closed her eyes slightly to rid her head of the unwanted (or were they wanted?) thoughts. When she opened them she realized Paul was still staring at her, all traces of coldness gone. A little ting of color was spread out subtly beneath his tan skin.

"Um, should we- d-do you want to sit down?" Dawn struggled to keep her head in check.

Paul just nodded. Dawn sat down slowly on the snow, careful to sit on her jacket so she wouldn't get her pants wet. The boy beside her followed her lead.  
As Dawn and Paul sat upon the hilltop, something had been born. They both knew it, and deep down inside, they both knew exactly _what_ it was. But how could it ever work out if they were both so reluctant to accept and let themselves feel what they were feeling?

* * *

Later that same night, Dawn was lying in her bed, surrounded by the darkness. The only light that came into the room was that of the moon. It lit up the bed next to hers, on which Brock was lying. He had a tiny frown on his face, and Dawn wondered of what he was dreaming. She stifled a giggle when she imagined Brock chasing after a crowd of girls unsuccessfully in his dreams.  
Dawn moved her gaze to the bed past Brock's. She knew Ash was in it but she couldn't see his face, as he was lying on his side facing the wall. Dawn observed his messy head of raven colored hair, thinking of Paul. _Paul could take leaf out of Ash's book, _she was thinking. _He looks so adorable when his hair is messy… But I guess Paul wouldn't want to do anything Ash does…_

Her mind wandered to the conversation she and Paul had had outside just a few hours ago after their fight. She suddenly felt very stupid, for the hundredth time that night. _Why the heck did I have to invite Paul to spend Christmas with me? What possessed me to do such a thing? _Dawn worried that she had seemed desperate or annoying to Paul. For some reason, she was super paranoid about what Paul thought of her.  
But on that hilltop, Paul had looked so… _vulnerable_. That was the word. It had only happened for a split second, but Dawn was more observative than people gave her credit for. When Dawn had asked Paul who he was spending the Christmas holidays with, she had picked up on the flicker of loneliness that had filled up his face for a brief second. He had then admitted that he wasn't going to be with anyone, since he didn't feel like traveling all the way to Veilstone to spend it with his family. Dawn was going to ask why he didn't just take a plane, but she had realized that it was probably a money issue, and didn't want to make him feel more uncomfortable than he already probably did.  
So then, on a split second decision, she had taken pity on him and had foolishly invited him to spend Christmas day with her. A few seconds after, she had pictured Ash's furious face in her mind and what he would say when she admitted she had invited Paul to spend the holidays with them.

Paul had answered immediately with a sharp, "No." This had filled Dawn with a sense of foolishness for thinking Paul would lighten up for the holidays. Her mom had always told her she was sometimes too optimistic for her own good, and now Dawn was really starting to see what she meant.

But, surprisingly, Paul had come around in the end. He agreed to spend Christmas Eve with her, but not Christmas day, saying that he "never cared that much about holidays anyway".

As Dawn lay on her bed that particular evening, a feeling of unease, or something, had crept over her. Or was it unease? It was more of a nervous anticipation. Yes, that was it. She was feeling nervously anticipating and… and in love…

_Wait, WHAT was that word?_

* * *

_Ohhh… Poor, confused little Dawn. xD_

_I wrote the last bit of this story Saturday, so I'm falling a bit behind. I hope I'll have enough time to write the chapter for the next week! So I'm just going to warn you in advance… I might not have the next few chapters up every third day like planned. Next week is the last before Christmas holidays for me, so my teachers are literally _cramming_ us with work. So they might be a few days late, but I'm still going to date them as planned._

_Oh yeah, thanks everyone for the reviews so far! They really make my day, every day :)_


	6. December 16th

_I'm seriously so sorry for not updating like I said I would (every third day). Now that school is over with (for now), I don't have to stress about homework. I can just relax, do some Christmas baking, write… Ahhh :)_

_My goal, as of now, is to complete this story by the end of December. After Christmas I'm going to have a lot of free time so that goal seems pretty attainable. We'll see._

_Much thanks to everyone for the great reviews and support! :)_

_* * * * *_

**December 16****th**

Ash

* * * * *

"Guys, I think it's time we talk about what we're doing for Christmas."

It was early morning on this December 16th. The sun shone brightly outside, reflecting off of the fluffy white snow. Dawn was looking out the window admiring the sparkle of the snow went Brock brought up an important subject that no one had brought up yet, strangely.

"You're going back to Pewter City in Kanto, aren't you, Brock?" Dawn asked, turning away from the window to face her friends.

"That's right. It's been a while since I've spent Christmas with my family," Brock confirmed as he shined his pokeballs. "Ash, have you decided what you're doing yet? …Ash?"

What the two hadn't realized until then was that their messy haired friend was currently unaware of the conversation that was taking place. As a matter of fact, he was fast asleep, face down on his bed.

"Didn't you _just_ wake him up, Brock?" Dawn asked, walking over towards Ash's bed.

"I thought I did," Brock mused, scratching his head as he stared at his friend.

"ASH!" Dawn bellowed into Ash's ear, waking him up in a startle.

"Huh, what?" Ash said dumbly as he opened his eyes groggily.

"Wake up! We're having an important conversation here," Dawn said sternly. Brock turned away, shaking his head, muttering, "Teenagers…"

Ash heaved himself up and off of his bed. "You're a teenager too," Ash reminded his friend.

Brock didn't look abashed. "I'm quite mature for a teenager, if you hadn't noticed."

Ash coughed a laugh as Dawn said coyly, "Yeah, right. Tripping over your own feet every time you see a pretty girl."

Brock turned away to hide the blush that had crept up over his cheeks. "Anyway, let's get back to what we were saying. So Ash, what are you going to do?"

"Huh?"

"For the Christmas holidays, you doofus," Dawn reminded him with a giggle.

"Oh, uh…" Ash racked his brain, which was still befuddled and ridden with sleep. "I was thinking of going back to Kanto. You know, I could surprise my mom, and…" he trailed off.

"And?" Brock said.

"Misty?" Dawn winked.

"…Yeah," Ash agreed, attempting nonchalance.

"Well, that works out. I'm going to Kanto too, as you know," Brock said.

"What about you, Dawn? Do you want to come to Kanto with us? My mom and Misty would love to finally meet you," Ash smiled.

"Umm… well…" Dawn bit her lip, unsure how to say what she had to say.

"What's wrong?" Brock asked.

"Well, er, I'd love to go to Kanto, since I've never been there before…"

"But?"

"It's just…" Dawn frowned.

"Just what?"

"I already have plans for Christmas Eve," Dawn blurted out, blushing.

"With who?" Brock asked curiously.

"Uh…" Dawn fidgeted nervously. She looked at Ash, scared of his reaction.

"Come on Dawn, why won't you tell us?" Ash asked, dumbfounded.

"Well er, it's with…"

"With?"

"P-Paul," she stuttered quickly. She had said his name so low and fast that the boys were unsure of what she had said.

"Who? I can't hear you properly, I thought you had said _Paul_ for a second," Ash laughed. His tone of voice indicated that he thought it was the last thing on earth that Dawn would have said.

Dawn's eyes widened slightly and she pressed her lips together in a tight line.  
The silence suddenly became heavy as realization sunk into Brock and Ash.

"You're spending Christmas Eve with PAUL?" Ash miffed.

To Ash's right, Brock chuckled. Ash looked at Brock and then back at Dawn. He, too, suddenly burst out in laughter. "Hahaha, good one, Dawn," he winked.

"What do you mean?" Dawn asked, frowning. Then she realized Ash thought she was joking. _Oh brother, this is worse than I thought!_

"Ash, I'm, uh, actually seeing Paul Christmas Eve," she said, trying to set the record straight. "It's not a joke."

Dawn then explained to the boys the conversation she and Paul had had outside a few days ago. Brock seemed alright with it, but Ash was utterly shocked and slightly outraged.

"Spending Christmas with him?" Ash said, trying to fit the pieces together in his head. Dawn and Paul lived on completely different planets. Their personalities were so opposite, it wasn't even funny. How would this work out?

"Christmas Eve," Dawn quickly corrected.

"Same thing." Ash shook his head. He just wasn't comfortable with his friend spending so much time with a guy like Paul. His older brotherly instincts for Dawn were starting to come out, and he couldn't help it. "If me and Brock are going to Kanto, where will you be staying? You guys won't be staying _together_?" Ash's eyes widened as he imagined Paul and Dawn sleeping in the same room. _That_ sure would not go over well.

Dawn blushed slightly before saying, "No, of course not, silly. I've got it all figured out, so stop worrying. I called up Zoey and we're staying together and spending Christmas day together."

Even after that piece of information, Ash still wasn't comforted. Normally he wouldn't have reacted in such an intense way, but on this day Ash was fretting about other things in the back of his head, which only intensified all the emotions he felt. Once he got to Kanto and saw Misty's beautiful face, everything would be alright…

* * *

"Whoa. There are so many stores."  
Ash stared at the wide array of stores that loomed around of him in the exponentially large Snowpoint Mall. After the painful conversation about Dawn and Paul a few hours previous, Dawn had reminded him that he better get Misty a Christmas present before it was too late. So he and Dawn had trekked to the mall with the goal of finding a perfect gift for Misty. Brock had opted out of accompanying them, saying he had already planned a training session for his Happiny (but Ash knew Brock wanted an opportunity to flirt with Nurse Joy without interruption, which, in Ash's opinion, wasn't a very good plan, since Croagunk was still there).

"Well, let's see. Is there something in particular you want to get her? I pretty much know this mall like the back of my hand, by now," Dawn smiled, offering help.

"Uh, um, well…" Ash thought hard. The truth was, he hadn't really thought of what to get Misty at all. He was completely new to this stuff, so he had no idea where to start.

"Need some help?" Dawn asked.

"Yeah, I guess. I don't really know what to get her…"

"Well, let's see," Dawn tapped her chin, thinking. "It's actually not that hard to buy for a girl. There's all of the normal stuff, like jewelry, flowers, chocolates, perfume… All girls like stuff like that." Dawn chattered away as she grabbed Ash's arm and led him to a jewelry store. "I was looking in here last time; they have some pretty nice stuff."

She pointed out certain glittery bracelets, necklaces with hearts on the end, diamond rings, and other random pieces she thought would be pretty on Misty based on what she knew about her. But as Ash looked, nothing seemed to catch his eye. It all seemed sort of wrong. For example, he could never see Misty wearing a necklace with a heart on it. Plus, if he gave her that, it would be majorly cheesy, in his opinion. It was also stereotypical. The rings, on the other hand, were way too expensive. He wouldn't even spend that much on his own mother. Ash could see Misty sporting a bracelet, but all the ones Dawn showed him were either too glittery or too flowery. Misty was sort of a Tomboy sometimes, and he could never see her wearing things like that.

"Dawn, uh, I don't think this shop is right for her. Let's try somewhere else."

For a whole hour they browsed around various shops. So far, it hadn't been successful. All of Dawn's ideas were more suited to her rather than Misty. Ash needed advice from someone who actually knew Misty.

"Here, this is _the one_ Ash, I know it. It smells absolutely gorgeous!" Dawn ran up to Ash and sprayed a cloud of musky perfume right in his face. Ash coughed and tried to wave it away. "That one smells like an old grandma, Dawn, no offense," he laughed slightly. "Besides, I like the way Misty smells naturally. I wouldn't want perfume to cover that up."

Dawn's face fell slightly, but she perked up a few seconds later. "No need to worry, we'll find something eventually."

Ash walked out of the store and Dawn trailed behind him. He spotted some phones and headed towards them to call the Pokemon Center to talk to Brock.

"Hey Brocko," Ash said.

"Hi, Ash, Dawn. How's the shopping?"

"Not so good. I haven't found anything for Misty yet."

Dawn piped up from behind Ash. "Yeah, we tired a few jewelry stores and some perfume stores and even a famous chocolate store but Ash didn't choose anything."

Brock laughed. "Well, I can see why you guys haven't found anything yet. Misty's not the type of girl you'd buy perfume or a necklace. And if Ash bought her chocolate she'd probably scream at him about how he's purposely trying to make her fat," Brock chuckled.

"Oh," Dawn frowned as she bit her lip.

"So do you have any ideas?" Ash asked, crossing his fingers.

"Well, I know that she would prefer something original and less generic. She would be happy with something that really comes from the heart, if you know what I mean."

Dawn smiled and nodded but Ash had no idea what Brock was talking about. _From the heart?_

Brock suddenly turned around, looking over his shoulder. When he turned back to Ash and Dawn, a faint pink blush had spread out over his cheeks. "Well, I gotta go, Nurse Joy is back!"

"Watch out for Croagunk," Dawn joked, but the screen abruptly went black and Brock probably had not heard her.

"Well that helps," Ash muttered sarcastically, frowning. What did it mean if something were less generic and original, anyway?

"How about you try calling someone else?" Dawn suggested lightly. "Someone who knows Misty well."

"The only person I can think of that knows Misty just as well as me is Brock," Ash said. "I guess I could call Tracey, but I don't want to give away that I'm coming to Kanto."

"I think you need a girls' opinion on this, anyway," Dawn added. "Obviously by now I know I'm not the right girl for that, but…"

"Hmm, I guess I could call May…"Ash trailed off. "She doesn't know Misty that well, but she's met her. And she's sort of like Misty in certain ways," Ash added, thinking about the times May had blown up at him in anger in a Misty-like fashion.

He dialed May's PokéNav number and leaned back on the plastic chair, waiting for May to answer.

"WHAT NOW, DREW?" May bellowed furiously into the phone.

"Uh, this isn't Drew…" Ash said, confused.

"Huh? Ash?"

"Yeah, it's me. Why did you think I was Drew?"

"Umm, no reason, don't worry about. What's up?" May asked, slighting breathless.

"I need your opinion on something," Ash replied.

"Sure, on what?"

"I'm trying to think of a present for Misty, since I'm going back to Kanto for the Christmas holidays. You've met her a few times, so you know what she's like, more or less. I can't find or think of anything to get her. Any ideas?"

May pondered for a minute. "Hmmm… Well she doesn't seem like the type of girl that would jump for joy if she got jewelry…" the brunette trailed off.

"Yeah, exactly," Ash breathed.

"Did you ask Brock's opinion? He knows her way better than I do."

"Yeah, but he wasn't too helpful. All he said was that Misty would like something less generic and original, whatever that means. He ran after Nurse Joy as soon as he saw her and hung up the phone. You know Brock…" Ash chuckled.

May giggled, a larger smile growing on her face. "I sure do. Now back to Misty. Hmmm…"

Ash jiggled his leg in anticipation. May was his last chance now.

"Original, huh? Well, I can think of something that's pretty original. But it would require a lot of effort, and maybe time, too."

"I'll do whatever it takes; I just want to get her something good."

"How about you get her a rare water Pokemon that you can only find in Sinnoh? She's a water type trainer, right? I'm sure she'd really like that," May smiled.

Ash's heart skipped a beat. _Of course! That would be a great present for Misty! She's always looking for new, cool water types. _"May, you're a genius," Ash sighed in relief.

"Aw, thanks Ash. I'm just glad I could help!"

"This is perfect! I gotta go catch one now! Thanks so much May, you're a real pal. Talk to you later!" Ash bounded up out of his seat and smiled.

"No prob, bye Ash!" May grinned into to phone.

The line cut off as Ash pressed the red 'end call' button.  
"Hey, you didn't even give me a chance to say hi to her," Dawn frowned.

"Sorry Dawn. I'm just so excited. This is perfect. I know exactly which Pokemon I'm going to catch, too."

"Oh yeah? Which Pokemon?"

"Wait 'til you see. It's going to be perfect!"

* * * * *

_So I kind of actually haven't decided which Pokemon Ash is going to get for Misty. Any ideas? I was thinking he could breed his Buizel and give her the egg… since Buizel's a pretty strong Pokemon and she's a gym leader and all. Plus, that would make them more connected, in a way, if they both had Pokemon that were related, you know? I was also thinking of Finneon, too, because it's kind of rare, and its evolved form is really pretty._

_What do you guys think? :)_


	7. December 19th

_I UPDATED!  
It's practically a miracle. Sorry that I've been SO off schedule and I basically broke my promise to you guys that the story would be done by the end of December. I won't promise anything anymore :/_

_I was actually a lot busier with Christmas and work than I thought I'd be. Sorry again guys.  
Alright, I'll stop with my excuses xD_

_To those who celebrate it, I hope you guys all had a fantabulous Christmas! _

_Now on with the story… (finally)_

* * * * *

**December 19****th****  
**May

* * * * *

_Christmas… Christmas… Christmas…_ The word ran around and around in May's head and as she thought deeply. How, with her Pokemon's moves, could she make a performance Christmas-y? After her last disaster of a performance, May knew needed an imaginative and stunning idea as a comeback. So this time, she decided to do the exact opposite of her last contest and actually _plan _a good routine.  
So what's a witty idea for a contest performance? May had thought for awhile and decided that doing something related to the time of year would be cute. A Christmas themed routine seemed quite appropriate, as her contest was during Christmas Eve.

May stared at her Pokemon from the fallen tree that served as a bench on which she sat. They were all playing around in the snow. _Whose moves could I use to do something Christmas-y?_

Immediately, May's eyes traveled to her Glaceon. _Snow is Christmas related, right?_ Glaceon's moves were not only appropriate to the current time of year, they also created beautiful performances. After her last messy show, beauty was a must.  
_So far, Glaceon is at the top of the list right now… _May decided. She stared at Beautifly, who was flying around the other Pokemon, dodging Glaceon's playful paw swipes. May couldn't see any of Beautifly's moves making something Christmas-y. She contemplated Wartortle and Blaziken's moves, and came up with the same conclusion as she had for Beautifly.  
But, an idea struck May as her eyes traveled off to the side of the main group of her Pokemon, where her newly caught Stantler was sitting alone. It had its back to May and her other Pokemon and was grooming its fur.  
She could do a sort of Reindeer thing- she could have Stantler prancing along, using it's Psychic to levitate itself into the air, while Glaceon blew snow over the whole stadium. _Yes!_ It was perfect! It would be like one of Santa's Reindeer. With this routine, May was sure to charm the judges.  
But there was one little problem- one tiny, teensy little setback.

Stantler wouldn't listen to a thing May said.

"Ugghh," May groaned as she watched her genius idea shatter right before her eyes. _Great_. _There goes awesome idea number 1!_

May grumbled to herself as the time passed, growing more and more frustrated as her mind remained blank. The _contest is in five days, _May thought._ I'm pretty much screwed_. She knew she had to use her very experienced Pokemon if she wanted to pull this off. They didn't have much time at all.

_Hmmm… what if…?_ As May looked over her powerhouse Pokemon, notably Venusaur, an idea sprung up in her mind. "That could work…" May said aloud as she bit down her lip in concentration.

"Might as well give it a shot!" May bounced up off of her seat and headed towards her Pokemon. She pulled out four pokeballs and returned Beautifly, Wartortle and Blaziken. She pressed the fourth pokeball and directed the light to the left, but Stantler was a little more stubborn. After a few minutes of pleading and yelling, Stantler was finally safe inside its Pokeball. _What a stubborn Pokemon_, May thought, exasperated.

Once all Pokemon but Glaceon and Venusaur were in their pokeballs, May spent a good fifteen minutes informing her Pokemon of her idea and instructing them.

"Alright, let's give it a shot!" May finally felt a spark of hope. _This just _has_ to work out. I know it will_, she thought. "Venusaur, use Razor Leaf, full speed!"

Venusaur let out tons of Razor Leafs, as many as it could muster to shoot out.

"Now, Venusaur- Vine Whip, Glaceon, use Ice Beam!"

Glaceon jumped high into the air and shot a carefully aimed Ice Beam at the flurry of leaves that Venusaur was shaping with its vines. The result was a frozen bundle of leaves in the shape of a pine tree. It wasn't perfect, yet, and it would sure take a lot of practice, but at least one could tell that it was suppose to look like a Christmas tree.

"Not bad, guys! We're going to have to do a lot of practice to get the shape just right, but I think we can get there." May realized she had started to perspire slightly due to stress. Wiping her sticky bangs out of her eyes, May continued to direct her Pokemon. "Now for the snow… Glaceon, jump and use Icy Wind, lightly!"

Glaceon once again sprang into the air above the tree-like formation and blew snow over the tree, making it look like it was snowing.

"Beautiful!" May commented, beginning to smile. "Now, how should I end this?" she wondered aloud.

"Hmm, let's just have fun with this. Venusaur, use Solar Beam and Glaceon, you use Shadow Ball. Aim it at the tree!"

The end result was a burst of yellow and purple sparkles surrounding the ice coated leaves as they fell to the ground. It was a bit messy, but in May's opinion, but it was a great start. With more practice, she could clean this routine up and make it something truly spectacular.

"Well well, I must say, you've really stepped up your game, May."

May's heart skipped a beat when she heard the voice behind her. Wanting to play it cool, she kept her back to Drew.  
"Oh, you know," May replied, wiping her sweaty bangs off of her forehead, "I'm just trying things out now. I'm not sure if I'll end up using that routine or not." At first May thought that she sounded impressive, but a second later she realized she must have sounded totally lame. Who left making a contest routine this late, anyway?

Drew chuckled as he ploughed his way through the snow to stand beside her. May quickly wiped her sleeve across her forehead self consciously as he approached. "Humph. Well that routine was definitely ten times better than your last one, which was pretty much a fail," he concluded with a flip of his bangs.

May glowered and bit down on her tongue in anger. But that didn't stop her from retaliating. "I thought you said I was always number one to you," she said hardly.

Drew sat down on the wooden log bench and stretched. "I never said I didn't say that," he replied nonchalantly, examining one of his pokeballs.

May didn't respond. She returned all of her Pokemon and sat down beside Drew, leaving a space of a few inches between them. She was super cold and wanted to move next to him to share some body heat, but she didn't want him to get any ideas. Drew was rubbing at a dirty mark on his pokeball with a small cloth.

The silence between them was boring, but not uncomfortable. May sat there, shivering, trying hard to stop her eyes from moving in the direction of the boy sitting on her right. She was annoyingly aware of his every movement, and she tried desperately to stop focusing on him. Instead, she went over the routine in her head, thinking of ways in which she could perfect it even further. Drew sat there and kept on shining his Pokeball, his legs fidgeting every once in awhile.

After five more minutes, Drew stood up. He looked at May, who was focusing on looking anywhere but him, and told her that he would be right back.

"Where are you going?" she asked him, but he appeared not to hear her.

May sat around impatiently, jiggling her foot in anticipation. Scenarios danced around in her head, many of which she knew would never happen. _Stop thinking of Drew like that, _she told herself forcefully. _He's your rival… and only that._

May's mind span out of control as her boredom and impatience reached a peak. In her mind, a scene played out that she knew would never happen in a million years. She was embarrassed to be thinking like she was, but she couldn't block it out of her mind.

Just as she pictured Drew pulling her into his arms for a long kiss, she heard someone's voice right in her ear.

"Earth to May!"

"Huh, what?" May looked up and saw Drew staring at her incredulously. The girl realized that she must have been so wrapped up in her thoughts and fantasies that she hadn't even noticed Drew's arrival!

"I've been standing here talking to you for a full minute," Drew said as he sat down beside May. "Classic May," he shook his head, grinning. "It's so you to doze off like that."

May could feel her face beginning to flush into a nice, tomato red color. _Well this is great, _she thought bitterly. _I must look like a complete ditz!_

Drew, having some tact, decided not to comment on her sudden redness. "Here, I brought you some hot chocolate," Drew said, averting his eyes as he handed May a steaming cup. "You looked cold," he explained. Was it just the frigid air outside, or had Drew just blushed a little? What ever it was, he had a pink tinge on the apples of his cheeks that had suddenly appeared.

"Oh, um, thanks, Drew!" May mumbled appreciatively, still slightly embarrassed, even though she knew Drew couldn't possibly have any idea as to what was going through her mind only moments ago.

May sipped her hot chocolate and the boy beside her did the same. There was silence between them, but this time it was a new sort of silence. They both were thinking the same things- one of the things that they were pondering was that the other one couldn't possibly be thinking what they were thinking. But they were both wrong.

May set her cup down by her feet once she was done. She was so cold and famished, that she had practically drank the whole thing in one go. Well, that's what it had seemed to Drew, who had only finished a quarter of the liquid in his cup. "Did that help at all?" Drew asked softly.

"Yeah, it did, thanks," May replied. It had indeed warmed her up nicely from the inside. Her hands were no longer white and numb and she could actually feel her toes now. But the cold wind had picked up and was prickling uncomfortably against her face.

"Here, let's go to the Pokemon Center, shall we?" Drew asked, standing up. He even offered his hand to help May up, which she greatly accepted.

"Feeling chivalrous, are we?" May said on impulse with a smirk.

A tiny smile appeared on Drew's face but he remained silent. May felt an arm slip around her waist. Her heart sped up considerably and she was sure that he could hear it.  
"Let's go this way, it's faster," Drew said as he pulled May over to the left. After a few more seconds, he removed his hand from around her waist. May let out a little sigh and she wished he could have kept it there. The glance she had snuck at Drew's face would have told her that he wished the same if she were more observant. But May didn't want to seem obvious, so she hadn't let her gaze on him linger any longer. If she had, it may have changed everything.

But if one opportunity passes, fate always comes into play and brings out another. It happened right at the moment when Drew asked the next question, which could irrevocably change everything later on if May responded in the way that fate tempted her to.

"Do you want to spend Christmas Eve with me?"

May stumbled slightly over an exposed tree root when she heard the question. It was so out of the blue. "Christmas Eve?"

"That's what I said, isn't it?" Drew mocked, hopeful in the back of his mind. He didn't know what had possessed him to ask such a thing.

May didn't want to be so easy. "Well, I might already have plans after my contest, you see…"

Drew inhaled, waiting. He wasn't sure whether he was relieved or not. He waited.

May felt a little nudge in the back of her mind. _Say yes! _"…But I guess I could after," she finished hurriedly.

"Is that a yes?" Drew frowned at himself for showing his hopefulness. He was still unsure why he had asked her.

"Yes, I suppose it is," May smiled.

If fate were a person, it would be smiling now too.

_* * * * *_

_Happy New Years everyone! :)_

_Review if you have the time. It's well appreciated :)_


	8. December 22nd

**A/N:** One update right after another :)  
I hope this makes up for my lack of frequent updates. I think last time I just really didn't feel like writing that chapter, which is the opposite of what I felt for this one. I was looking forward to writing this chapter so much xD

Enjoy :)

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**December 22****nd**  
Misty

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A girl was standing by on the edge of a cliff, leaning on a rusty railing. To passersby, she was just a random girl staring out at the ocean. Their eyes slid past her without paying any attention. After all, she was just an insignificant girl standing on the cape, probably thinking about love, or something, like so many girls did.

But to someone who paid more attention, realization that this young lady was no ordinary girl would come. If they had paused to observe her tall figure and noticed the strand of bright orange hair that slipped out from underneath the girl's pink hood, they would surely recognize the famous gym leader.

Misty held her breath as she heard someone's feet slow down behind her. She noticed a stray strand of hair that had escape from under her hood from the wind, so she quickly tucked it safely back where it belonged. Misty really wasn't in the mood to be recognized at that moment. All she wanted was to be alone and have some space. At the gym, her sisters were overbearing and noisy; she could only take so much of them. This was why Misty often took refuge at Cerulean's cape with her hood up and her back to the occasional passerby.

The girl stared out at the rolling ocean with her blue-green eyes, deep in thought. The wind whipped the snow around fiercely in the air, causing her to shiver slightly. _This Christmas is going to be a real drag with just my sisters, _she thought, frustrated. Her parents decided that they wanted to have a romantic Christmas with just themselves, leaving their four daughters alone for the holidays. Misty had been quite lonely lately; all of her friends were out of town and she definitely did not feel like hanging with her sisters. _All they talk about is makeup, clothes, boys, boys and boys, _thought Misty. She could never be included in those conversations. For one thing, Misty hardly wore any makeup- she was always wet from being in the pool or sweating after a hard gym battle, anyway. Misty also didn't really care about fashion too much- she basically wore what she wanted and didn't care what other people said. Lastly, she never had any boys to talk about. Sure, she got asked out on a date here and there, and she would accept, to be polite, but none of the boys really did it for her. They either only asked her out because she was practically famous, or else they turned out to be way too serious for her. She always found an excuse as to why a guy wasn't right for her.  
But why did she do that, anyway?  
For some reason, Ash Ketchum's face appeared in her mind. _No way, _she thought. _It's not because of Ash, of course it isn't. I haven't even seen him for over a year and a half!_

But Misty was wrong. Of course it was about Ash- it always had been. She was just too stubborn to admit to herself or anyone that she really did have feelings for him and that she had all along. Misty was not an immature person; but when it came to admitting that she liked Ash Ketchum, her not being able to do so was an immaturity thing.

The redhead checked her watch; it was already three hours past noon.  
"I should probably get back to the gym now," she sighed, staring out to the beautiful ocean just a second longer before she turned around to head home.

The walk from Cerulean Cape to the Cerulean Gym, where Misty lived, took twenty minutes. The wind had died down some so it was a comfortable, peaceful walk. No one had stopped to talk to her along the way, for which she was grateful.  
That was until she reached her gym.  
She noticed two young men outside of the gym doors, looking straight at her. Misty immediately regretted not taking the back doors to enter her house; she wasn't in the mood for question or gym battles at that moment. Avoiding eye contact, Misty kept her hood up and head bowed and rushed into the gym.

"Hey, Mist! Where are you going?"

Misty stopped in her tracks. The door slammed shut behind her, narrowly missing her head. She knew that voice- she knew it well- yet it was different, deeper somehow, but still the same old voice of…

"Ash!?" Misty rushed back out the doors. There were two boys standing there, one taller than the other with darker skin. "Brock!?"

"Did you not recognize us, or something?" Ash smiled. "I didn't expect you to get so ditzy," he mocked.

Misty stood there, staring. _That's Ash? _Misty thought, bewildered. Brock looked the same as ever- tall, toned muscles, dark hair, and squinty eyes. She couldn't pick out anything that had changed on him much, except maybe that he had been working out a little more. But Ash was a different story. He used to be a scrawny little boy with messy hair, but now, years later, that had all changed. He had grown, which was to be expected, yes. But Misty was surprised to see that he was the same height as her, maybe even a tad but taller. Ash wasn't so skinny anymore either, but definitely not in a bad way. He had developed some muscle and he looked quite nice and toned. But what Misty was most surprised about was his hair. She used to think it was completely messy and disastrous, and, well, it still was; the surprising thing was that he had grown into it. The hair that stuck up underneath his hat and flew around his face messily made him look… well_, sexy_.  
_Ugh, Ash, sexy!? _Misty was disgusted at herself. _Ew, no way! _In her mind she pictured the small boy she had traveled with. That definitely was not sexy. But then she focused on the boy –no, young man- that stood before her. That was definitely sexier.

Misty shook her head to rid herself of what she considered her "bad" thoughts.  
"Shut up, Ketchum," Misty snapped automatically. Ah, just like old times.  
Brock smirked in an annoying knowing way and Misty sent him a death glare. Yup, this was definitely going to be like the good old days.

"Want to come in? There's no point standing out here in the cold," Misty pointed out. She opened the door to let her friends in, but as Ash reached the door, he took it from her hold and said, "After you."

"Well haven't you matured since we last traveled together," Misty muttered with a smirk. Ash was a little confused; all he did was open a door for her, just like he would for any other girl. But Ash hadn't realized that after traveling for five years with three different girls, he had learned a lot about how to treat them well. Not to mention the fact that had Dawn spent practically an hour informing Ash on how to be chivalrous so he can (quote) "score Misty." Thanks, Dawn.

Misty led the two boys through a hallway beside the gym. They reached a pair of double doors that lead to Misty's house and Misty took out a pair of keys and unlocked it.

Once they were all seated in the kitchen, Misty put down a basket of cookies she had made the other day and offered them some hot chocolate.

"Sure!" Ash said, automatically reaching for a cookie. "These look delicious, Mist!"

"It's Brock's secret cookie recipe, actually," Misty informed them as she poured boiling water into three mugs. She turned to Brock. "You gave it to me right before we all separated after Johto; I've been using it ever since."

"You can't beat Brock's cooking," Ash said throatily as he shoved his third cookie into his mouth.

"You guys are too nice," Brock chuckled.

Once the trio was all settled at the table with their hot chocolate, Misty asked the boys what brought them to Kanto.

"I wanted to spend Christmas with my siblings. It's been too long," Brock said.

"What about you, Ash?"

"Well, Brock was going to Kanto so I figured I might as well come too. I haven't seen my mom in awhile and I know she'd love it if I surprised her. Then I knew I could see you too, if I came," Ash smiled, looking Misty right in the eyes.

Misty swallowed and tried not to blush. Ash was being so flirty! "What about that girl you guys are traveling with, Dawn?" Misty asked, trying to distract them.

"She made plans with some of her friends," Brock explained.

"You can hardly call Paul one of her friends," Ash muttered to Brock.

"I look forward to seeing how that works out," Brock laughed. "It's going to be one heck of a night for her."

"Yeah, Paul will just be sitting there all annoyed with her while she tries to get him to sing Christmas carols, or something," Ash laughed back.

"Give her a break. I think she's kind of fond of him, actually…"

Misty zoned out as a conversation topic came up that she couldn't take part in. She wondered about Ash. Why was he being all flirty like that? First, holding open the door for her, something he would have never thought to do back when they traveled together. Then, there was the whole thing with him looking her directly in her eyes when he spoke to her. It was slightly intimidating, yet curious.  
There were so many things that Misty didn't know about Ash anymore. Did he have a girlfriend? How old was this Dawn girl, anyway? Was she pretty? All of these questions swam around in Misty's mind. Was it jealousy, or just simple curiosity? _I am NOT jealous, _Misty told herself angrily. _I do not like him more than I friend, I am not jealous, I am not jealous, I am not-_

"Misty? Are you alright?"

Misty snapped out of her daze and realized Brock was talking to her. "What?" she asked.

"You looked angry there for a second," Brock informed her.

"I'm not angry," she snapped angrily.

"Suuuuure you're not," Ash mocked, his face full of cookie crumbs. He shoved another whole cookie in his mouth. _Some things never change, _Misty thought exasperatedly. She noticed that there were only three cookies left in the basket.

"Ash, that's disgusting, you just ate like twenty cookies!" Misty stared at her friend, revolted. But she also felt a little glow of admiration in her heart. Oh, how she loved Ash and his constant state of hunger. It never got old. _What the heck are you thinking, Misty? _She asked herself. She suppressed what she had begun to feel and went back to glaring at Ash.

"What?" Ash asked, his mouth half full. "I'm hungry!"

"Yeah, but it doesn't mean you have to scarf down a billion cookies! That's not healthy, you know," Misty lectured.

"So?"

"Boys," Misty muttered inaudibly as she cleaned up the three mugs and rinsed them off in her sink.

She heard muttering and what sounded like silent arguing from behind her, but she kept her back turned. She scrubbed at one of the mugs violently.

"Stop it, Brock," Misty head Ash say quietly behind her. She heard a few more muffled words, and then Ash sighed, "Fine, geez."

Once the mugs were squeaky clean and back on their shelves, Misty sat back down at her table.  
"Misty, uh, d'you wanna come to Pallet with me for Christmas?" Ash looked at Misty and smiled.

_There he is, doing the whole eye contact thing, _Misty observed in her head. _He has such nice eyes, I never noticed before… That deep brown color is so sexy-_

"So? What do you say?"

"Huh?" Misty looked up. _Wait, Christmas? What?_ Misty shook he head. She was starting to act like Ash now- all dumb and oblivious. _He really rubs off on people_, Misty thought with a grumble. She considered it- if she left today, that would be three whole days with Ash… just Ash.

"Sure," Misty smiled, clearing her head. "But I'll have to come back for Christmas. I have to spend it with my sisters," she grumbled. "But hey, that's a few days more without them!"

"Awesome," Ash smiled. "My mom loves you, so I'm sure she'll be fine with it."

"You haven't asked her yet?" Misty stared at him incredulously.

"No, but like I said, she likes you, and she'll definitely be happy to have more company."

"You can't just invite someone over like that for three days without asking permission first, Ash. That's rude," she bickered.

Brock leaned back and smiled. These two were exactly the same together as before. He hoped that something else would change, though. He hoped that these two would finally admit their feelings for each other so they could take their relationship to the next level. Brock was happy for them, but at the same time he was lonely- his two best friends were in love with each other and he had no one… for now. _Nurse Joy of Pewter, here I come…_

Ash stared at the girl with the orange hair that he was so fond of. Dawn had made him realize that he actually _did_ like this girl- more than a friend. Her tips seemed to be working as well- whenever he looked her straight in those eyes of hers (which wasn't hard, because he could stare at that beautiful color all day and not get bored), he swore he saw a faint blush appear on the apples of her cheeks. But how could he ever tell her? He was a courageous young man, but he could never seem to channel that courage when it came to things like this. Plus, it seemed like Misty couldn't possibly like him more than a friend, as she spent half her time bickering at him about one thing or another. _I wonder what's going on inside her head now…_

What was going on inside Misty's head was sort of what Ash hoped for, but definitely not what he expected. Whenever Misty looked at Ash, her heart fluttered. She felt a longing too- a new feeling she had never experienced for any other boy this strong. She wanted to reach out and touch him so bad. She wanted to run her hands through his shaggy hair… feel his toned arms and chest… lean in and inhale the scent of him… _What am I feeling toward him? _Misty wondered. _Why am I feeling like this? It's Ash. This is Ash Ketchum!_

Exactly, Misty.

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**A/N**: I decided to stop making my author's notes at the start and the end in italics. It's starting to get annoying to me for some reason :P

Hmm, I had all of the chapters up to this point planned out. I still need to think of how the next chapters are going to go. Ideas, anyone? Anything you want to see happen? What do you think the couples should do on their magical Christmas Eve?  
I'm probably going to split the Christmas Eve day into three chapters. Do you guys want Dawn and Paul's night first, Ash and Misty's night first, or May and Drew's night first?  
Personally, I think we should save best for last. But which pairing or story so far is the most exciting?

Lemme know what you think, if you want :)


	9. December 24th: Part 1:1

A/N: I had major writer's block for this chapter. My non Ikarishipping mind was having a hard time at deciding how the conclusion to this portion of the story will go. Sorry, all my readers!  
I decided that I'm going to split the last three chapters each into two. They would be super long if I didn't do that. And this way, updates will be more frequent.

And wow, I've reached **100 reviews**! I can't **thank you** guys all enough!  
This is officially my most successful story.  
:D

Thank you guys again for reading and reviewing! I _really_ appreciate it! :)

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**December 24****th**  
Dawn

_Part I: 1/2_

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Nervous, excited, regretful, anticipated, foolish. These were all words that Dawn was using to describe herself in her head as she waited at the entrance of the Snowpoint Pokemon center. How could she have possibly thought that she and Paul could have a fun, enjoyable evening? Sure, the weather was considerably warm for the 24th of December, but Paul's attitude sure wasn't. Being around him was like stepping into a big freezer. When have I ever seen Paul smiling anyway? What does he even do for fun? Questions like such danced around in Dawn's mind as she stared off in the distance.

The sun set early in those cold, winter days- this was why the sky was colored a deep indigo when it was only five hours past noon. A few stars twinkled here and there overhead. A faint line of orange bordered the western horizon.

Dawn shivered slightly, but not due to cold. It was unseasonably warm, which Dawn thought was lucky, since she had planned for her and Paul to attend an outdoor Christmas carnival. It was indeed anticipation and nerves that made Dawn shiver in her pink-red button down coat.  
She glanced at her pokétch: 5:10 pm. It was five more minutes until Paul arrived. Dawn wasn't worried; she thought Paul to be the kind of guy that would be never late for anything, even if he was reluctant to go in the first place.

5:11. Dawn's stomach rumbled uncomfortably. The thought of her biting into a succulent hot dog at the carnival popped up in her mind. She wasn't sure whether the thought made her even hungrier or want to vomit in the nearby garbage can.

5:12. She checked her appearance in the reflection from the dark window beside her. _Maybe I should have gotten this jacket in one size smaller_…

5:13. Two minutes to spare. _Might_ _as well fix my hair while I've got the time_, she thought.

5:14. Was it just her, or had the temperature dropped suddenly?

5:15. A man appeared around the corner to Dawn's left. Paul! _Wait, that's not Paul…_

5:16. He was officially late. Did he decide to ditch last minute? Maybe he was just humoring me the whole time about all of this. Maybe he went back home! Maybe-

"Dawn."

Dawn snapped her head up from the rock on the ground she had been staring at. Paul was in front of her, wearing a navy blue and black jacket and simple dark wash jeans. Dawn was pleased to see that he wasn't scowling. Any other girl would have been put off by Paul's lack of emotion, but Dawn knew that his blank face was a good sign. At least he was feeling normal, or at least making an effort to seem so.

"Hey, Paul," Dawn smiled. Dawn thought she saw the corners of Paul's mouth lift up slightly, but she could have just been hoping she had seen that.

"What should we do tonight?" Paul said as they began to stride down a busy street. Dawn could tell he was trying very hard to keep his tone of voice light and casual.

"Um, well, I was thinking we could go to the carnival. You know, the one down on Tinsel Street," Dawn replied, trying to keep her voice from being overly bubbly.

Paul just nodded. A curtain of purple hair fell down and covered his face.

They strode along in silence, Dawn fretting slightly. She had suddenly become very paranoid about the way her hair was being whipped around by the abrupt gust of wind. _Arg, I need to fix my hair again, _she thought frustratingly. She removed her three yellow hair clips and began raking her fingers through her hair to detangle it.  
Paul was watching her with a slightly amused expression on his face. He didn't say anything.

Suddenly, another gust of wind blew up and Dawn felt her hat fly off behind her. "Darn it, my hat!" she muttered and raced a few meters back to retrieve her hat. She set it firmly on her head once she had caught up to Paul. A faint blush appeared on her cheeks.  
It was only a minute later that Dawn's hat fell off once more.  
"Stupid wind!" Dawn growled. She stuffed her hat along with her hair clips in her bag as she said, "I might as well not bother to wear it if it will keep flying off like that."

"I hate hats," Paul said simply.

"Oh, well… I like them," Dawn blushed again. She ran her fingers through her hair, hoping it didn't look too horrible. She never really liked having her hair just down and normal- she felt messy and unpolished. _Of all the times the wind has to blow off my hat, it just has to be now, _she thought miserably.

"I like it like that."

"Hm?" Dawn turned to face the young man on her left.

"Your hair," he explained in a slow voice.

"What about it?" she said dumbly.

"I said it looks nice down like that." Paul's lips had the hint of a playful smirk.

"Oh," Dawn looked down, torn between being flattered and embarrassed. "Thanks."

"Yeah."

Inside her head, Dawn was having a freak out. _He likes my hair, he likes my hair, he likes my hair, he likes my hair…_

"Well this looks lame," commented Paul.

Dawn turned to face in the direction Paul was staring. They were both now looking at the carnival, and in Dawn's opinion, it looks _awesome._ It was big- larger than she had expected it to be. Tons of rides sparkled with their bright lights and people were walking around happily with big sticks of cotton candy. Game stands were dotted around here and there. To top it all of, a giant Ferris Wheel loomed over the rest of the carnival.

"Lame?" Dawn laughed incredulously. "This looks awesome! Come on!"

Dawn grabbed the sleeve of Paul's jacket and took off into the gates of the carnival, dragging him behind her. She didn't know where to start- grab something to eat, play some little games or start off with a bang on the Ferris Wheel?

"Ohh, what should we do, Paul?" Dawn turned around to face her companion but she realized he wasn't behind her. She did a 360 degree turn, but he wasn't anywhere in her sight. "Paul?"

She walked back a bit to the gates, thinking she'd see her purple haired friend striding angrily away from the carnival. But he wasn't there.  
She then felt a tap on her back.

"I got these for us," Paul mumbled tonelessly, holding two cotton candies.

"Oh, uh, thanks?" Dawn smiled at him questioningly as she accepted the pink one from him.

Paul shrugged and turned away, picking off a piece of his blue cotton candy and shoving it in his mouth. "I saw you looking at some people holding them so I thought you would like some," he explained.

"That's very thoughtful of you, Paul," Dawn smiled. "But shouldn't we eat supper first before we go off and have a bunch of junk food?"

Paul frowned and shrugged again. "Does it really matter?"

"Well, it's not healthy," Dawn explained, thinking it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"So? Screw it."

Dawn just looked at him.

"You don't always have to do what people say you should do. Do what you want. Have some fun for once," Paul said hardly, his eyes flickering with an emotion Dawn couldn't quite recognize.

She was taken a back slightly. "I _do _have lots of fun," she explained as she cocked her head to the side slightly.

"Well, your way will get boring. Try something risky," he said with slight mockery in his voice on the last word. It was as if he was making fun of her for thinking eating cotton candy before she had even had supper was defined by the word risky.

"Er, alright," she said slowly, biting her lip.

"Go on." Paul nodded towards the cotton candy in Dawn's hand.

She pictured her mother lecturing her on eating properly. "Just because you're out traveling without me around, it doesn't mean you can get away with eating unhealthily all of the time. Make sure you eat balanced meals every day and limit your junk food intake," she had said. She then pictured Brock making a yummy, healthy stew for dinner and saying, "You should always eat a healthy meal before you have any candy, chocolate, or things like that"

"The world won't end if you eat some cotton candy," Paul said exasperatedly as he rolled his eyes. "Stop being such a prissy little princess."

Dawn sighed and then grabbed a little fluff of cotton candy tentatively. _Oh well, they'll never know, _Dawn thought, still picturing her mother and Brock's faces.

Paul sighed and rolled his eyes again. "Take more than that." He grabbed a huge wad of pink cotton candy and shoved it in her face. Dawn recoiled slightly before whipping it out of his hands and shoving it all in her mouth. _Take THAT, Paul._

"Good." Paul seemed satisfied. Dawn noticed he had already finished his cotton candy and was now in the process of devouring some potato chips. She decided not to comment on that and continued shoving cotton candy in her mouth.

"So what's our plan tonight?" Dawn asked, casting a sideways glance at her companion. "We could start by doing some games, and then maybe get something to eat, then we could go on the big ferris-"

"Stop." Paul held out a hand. "Life doesn't always have to be planned. Therefore, we don't have to plan every second of our night. Let's just take things one step at a time."

"That's coming from Mr. "I'm-so-strategic-that-I-study-my-opponents-for-months-and-plan-every-move-that-I'm-going-to-make?" Dawn laughed as they walked along.

"Did I say I was talking about a battle? No. A battle is a battle. Now is now," Paul said with a firm edge to his force.

"Ooookay," Dawn said, uncertain.

"See? We were walking, without having an idea as to where we were headed. Now, we find ourselves at a park."

Dawn looked around, realizing for the first time that they were indeed at a park-like section of the carnival. There were four archways acting as entrances. In the small area, there were many bushes and small trees sparkling with tiny, multicolored lights. There were a dozen or so benches set around, a few of them occupied by couples.

"Alright…" Dawn said, not quite sure what Paul was getting at.

"You wait here. I'll get us some food." Paul turned away.

"Can you-" Dawn started, but she was interrupted.

"Do you think they're going to sell oranges and bananas at a carnival? So no, I'm not going to get anything healthy," Paul cut in, reading Dawn's mind.

Dawn blinked. "Alright," she replied, keeping her composure.

She strolled in through the gates and found an unoccupied bench surrounded by a few bushes twinkling with periwinkle colored lights. She sat and waited for Paul.

Five minutes later he arrived back. In his arms he carried two drinks and a bunch of food, such as popcorn and giant pretzels. Dawn moaned slightly, thinking of the giant stomach ache she was bound to have that night and how giant her behind was going to get.

Paul set the food down on one side of the bench and was about to sit down, but he hesitated, staring at something above their heads.

"What are you staring at?" Dawn asked. She then followed his gaze to the metal arch above the bench.

Mistletoe.


	10. December 24th: Part 2:1

**A/N: **This will be my last update for about two weeks. I have exams next week so I really need to be concentrating on school, and this means I have to limit my distractions. I hope you guys will enjoy this chapter, because it's all that I'm leaving you with for a while xD

Oh, I must thank you guys again for enjoying my story and reviewing! It really makes my day :)

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**December 24****th** _(Part II)_

May/Drew

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"My hat, my hat, my hat! Where on earth is my hat?"

May stumbled around her hotel room, scattering object around as she dug through piles of stuff to find her missing hat. She searched frantically, worried that if she didn't find her hat sometime soon, she would be late in meeting Drew in the field where they had seen each other last. May had been springing out of the hotel doors clad in her fluffy cranberry winter jacket, a pair of snug jeans and brown winter boots when she had realized a very important part of her outfit was missing- her winter hat!  
Now she stood amidst scattered clothes, hair products and travels books, wondering where on earth she had put her hat. She caught her reflection in the mirror across from her and took a second to admire her new jacket. That's when she spotted something dark red behind her, reflected in the mirror.

"My hat was on my bed this whole time?" she growled, snatching up the hat and shoving it angrily on her head. May grabbed her bag and ran out of her hotel room. She didn't even bother to take the elevator- she was too impatient. She ran down six flights of stairs and all the way to the field where she was soon to find Drew.

Once she reached the field, she slumped against the fallen log on which her and Drew had sat a few days ago. She clutched her heart and gasped in large amounts of cold air, trying to catch her breath.

"Did you just run a marathon, or something?" Drew walked out from the trees behind the log, almost making May jump.

"Were you there the whole time?" she asked, wanting to slap herself for being so distracted. It was true, she had only had one thing, -or rather, person-, on her mind the past few days. It was, of course, Drew, that was always occupying her thoughts and attention. Lately she had been finding herself so wrapped up in thoughts about him that she hardly noticed anything else around her or what she was doing.  
May blushed, feeling like a major ditz.

"I've been standing here for ten minutes," Drew replied

"I-I didn't notice you," May stuttered.

Drew smirked. "Evidently," he smirked. "I'll be back in a second May, I need to go get something."

"Alright," May said, wondering what he was going to go get. She thought vaguely that maybe he was going to go get some hot chocolate for the both of them like last time.

She rubbed her hands together trying to heat them up. She decided she was in need for some gloves, so she extracted a thick, dark blue pair from her bag.

_I wonder where Drew is…_ She wondered, flexing her fingers in the gloves. She was just about to stand up to see if was coming back from the other side of the field when-

WHAM.

Something hit her hard on the back of the head. May automatically felt where the object had hit her and saw snow on her hand. A snowball! Who had hit her with one? There was only one answer. It had to be-

"Drew!" she growled angrily, bending over to collect some snow to hit him back. She heard the rush of air and felt a pang on her butt as a snowball made contact with her derriere. A laugh from somewhere nearby resounded in May's ears.

"Ohh, that does it!" May snapped, slapping the snow off of her butt. She reared up to throw her perfectly round snowball but realized that she had no clue as to where Drew was hiding. "Come out here, you little…"

May felt another snowball hit her back so she whipped around. She still saw no sign of him.  
"What, are you afraid to come out here like a man and take on a _girl_ fair and square?" she teased, adding more snow to her snowball. May peered closely in the direction that the snowball had come from, hoping to see a glimpse of green hair among the brown tree trunks. But she saw nothing. _Oh, that Drew, I'll get him right in the face… better yet, right in the…_

"Ahhh!" May screamed as she saw a pair of hands then felt snow sloshed all over her face. Her scream cut off as a large chunk of snow found its way into her mouth. She felt the cold snow sting her face and get all into her hair.  
"I got you!"  
May wiped her eyes and turned around to see Drew doubled over with laughter. May fumed, trying to brush all of the snow off of her face. "Ugh, Drew, you could have given me frostbite!" May moaned, shooting daggers at him.

Drew just grinned and continued laughing as he walking towards her. "Here, you missed a spot," he said. He used his bare hand to wipe away the snow May had missed on her forehead. His hand traveled down along her cheekbones, lingering a few seconds longer than necessary. May's cheek tingled, but not from the cold snow.  
Drew backed away slightly, looking into May's eyes. May stared back, her heart sputtering faster than normal. _Why did he just do that? _She wondered.  
A tiny grin spread into her face as a thought suddenly formed in her mind.

"You are a very, very naughty boy, Drew," May almost whispered slyly as she walked right up to him, her hands behind her back.

"Oh?" Drew replied, cocking an eyebrow.

"You deserve… PAYBACK!" May screamed the last word and shoved the pile of snow she had in her hands into Drew's face and (hopefully) down his shirt. Once he was blinded by the snow, May picked up more of the white stuff and formed balls of them, throwing them continuously at Drew's face. Her aim wasn't perfect, but at least half of her snowballs came in contact with Drew's head.

"No fair, May!" Drew laughed as he quickly wiped the snow away from his eyes to gather some snow in his hands and chuck it back at May.

"How- is- that- not- fair?" May said in synch with her snowball hitting Drew's thighs and stomach.

"Hey! This is an off limits area," Drew proclaimed with humor, motioning towards his manly areas.

"Awww," May whined, instead chucking a snowball at his head.

Drew paused, raising an eyebrow at her. May suddenly realized the meaning that what she said could have had, and widened her eyes. She felt the blush creep up on her face. "I-I didn't mean it like-"

"I know, I'm just teasing you," Drew smiled slyly, looking at May in a way that she had never seen him look at her before. It was sort of a little once over that he gave her. It made May's legs feel like putty.

"Oh, don't you think for one instant that this is over," Drew winked, trying to break the slight awkwardness. He grabbed an arm full of snow and ran towards May to dump it over her head. May saw this coming and sprinted away from him at full speed. Drew gave her a little head start and then started to chase her all the way to the other end of the field. A minute later he was a foot behind May, so he decided the time was right, and threw the snow with all of his force onto her. When May felt the snow fall down her jacket, she turned around to glare at Drew, but this was a mistake; she didn't see the snow covered rock underneath her foot and tripped over it. She was sent flying onto to cold ground.  
A split second later something heavy and warm landed on top of her.  
May's breath caught in her throat as she opened her eyes and saw Drew on top of her. He seemed to have just realized that he was on top of May at the same time. The pair of them stared at each other, their breathing quickly increasing, but not because they had just been running. Neither of them moved or did anything to get one of them off the other.  
It was at that moment that Drew realized that all he really wanted to do then was kiss May. He wanted to take her soft, pink little face in his hands and lean down and plant his lips on hers. He wanted to slip his arms around her waist and hold her there as his mouth explored hers.  
But he wouldn't. He had a feeling by the way that May looked at him and blushed around him that she had feelings for him too, but he wasn't sure. Drew knew it wouldn't be gentlemanly of him to kiss her now without any confirmations of her feelings towards him. Now matter how badly he wanted her, he couldn't muster up any courage. Famous coordinator Drew had failed. If only he had know that while May's sapphire eyes were staring into his jade ones she was desperately wanting to do the same thing to him.

"Sorry," Drew said simply, tearing his eyes away from hers, breaking the connection. He smoothly got to his feet and held out a hand to help her up. May sighed a long sigh and took his hand. Once she was up she held onto it a little longer than necessary, wanting to keep a hold of it, but Drew let go of her hand lightly. She tried not to look disappointed.

"So, um, where are we going now?" May asked, filling in the tensed silence, pretending like nothing had just happened.

"This way." Drew nodded to a little path that led in the opposite direction of the town, acting like he wasn't turned on by the fact that he was just on top of her. "I'm staying in a cabin for the next few days. It's nice. I thought we could spend the rest of tonight there," he added, leading his companion.

"I thought you were in the same hotel as me," May said as she cocked her head to the side a little bit.

"Did you honestly think I'd spend Christmas in a crappy hotel?"

May shrugged, not knowing how to answer without sounding like a fool.  
"You'll like the cabin. It's even got a fire place," Drew added.

"That seems… cozy," May commented, feeling awkward.

The tension still hadn't subsided much. May kept shooting sneaky glances at the boy next to her, noticing things like how sexy he looked with his damp hair falling into his eyes and the way his hands were fidgeting slightly at his sides. She felt strong urges to jump on him and tackle him to the ground, which made her feel strange around him. She was practically screaming the scenario out in her head, and she wondered for a second what would happen if Drew could read her mind.  
Drew's thoughts were mimicking those of May. He was also glancing at her every so often, loving the way her nose wiggled every few seconds and how beautiful her eyelashes looked with the tiny snowflakes clinging to them. The images in Drew's mind were the same kind as the ones in May's. He pictured himself stopping her right there, wrapping his arms around her waist, melding her body against his and kissing her fiercely. For now, he felt, he could only dream.

Little did he know as he held open the wooden door for May that those dreams would soon become a reality, right there in that cozy little cabin.

* * * * *  
**DAAAAAAAML!!** Ohhh, they're so cute ^-^  
Sorry. I got a little excited there.

I had so much fun writing this chapter. Tell me if you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it :)

See you all in a couple of weeks with my next update!


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